AME :

If your asylum application has been rejected and you benefited from the Complémentaire Santé solidaire (CSS) during your asylum application process, your rights will be extended for 6 months after the deadline of your asylum application certificate receipt. Beware, the extension of your rights is not made automatically, you need to renew your claim to the Caisse Primaire d’assurance Maladie 2 months before the end of your CSS validity.

As a person in an illegal situation, you can benefit from the State Medical Aid (Aide médicale d’État, AME), if you have lived in France for more than 3 consecutive months and have low resources.

To claim the AME, you need to fulfill this CERFA form by clearly indicating the amount and the origin of your ressources, and transfer it to the Caisse Primaire d’Assurance Maladie of your department with the required written proof: identity proof (photocopy of the whole of the passport pages or the national identity card, a copy of an old residence permit, the driver licence obtained in your country, etc.); proof of address in France where you lived continuously for more than 3 months (old asylum application certificate; domiciliation certificate that must be older than 3 months, etc.) and identity photo. If you have worked in a steady way, you must add the pay slips (12 last months). Also you must add the tax assessment (or the non-tax assessment).

Beware, it is necessary to always show an amount of resources (it could be little works (paid tasks/job) or financial assistance received from associations), as long as the total amount does not exceed the ceiling set by the social security.

When your request is accepted, you will have the right to possess an admission card for the AME, on which your photo will appear (beware, this is not a carte vitale). Your AME card is valid for one year and will allow you to assert your rights when you visit health professionnals and to benefit from the dispensation to pay in advance (that means you must not be charged either for health appointments or for tablets). If you support people (partner, children), they will also be allowed to benefit from the AME. Beware, the renewal of the AME is not automatic, you need to apply to a new claim within the 2 months before the deadline.

Finally, the application for the AME can be long. If you have health problems, you should bring them to an association’s or a social worker’s attention, for your claim to be dealt with as a priority.

The PASS and the DSUV :

If you do not have the right to the AME and you are not able to pay healthcare costs, you can go to a PASS (centre for access to care) to visit a doctor, a dentist, an ophtalmologist… for free.

If you do need to be treated rapidly because it is an urgent need and your life depends on it, you must go to any hospital, you will not be charged, even if you do not possess the AME : this is the Urgent and essential cares system (DSUV)

Whether were hosted in a CADA (Welcome centre for asylum seekers), you must leave your accommodation 1 month after the refusal decision of the OFPRA at the latest.

It is even more complicated to access an accommodation when being in an illegal situation.

In theory, you have the right to an emergency housing if you are in a wandering situation. To do so, you need to call the 115. The call is free of charge and allow homeless people to get a place in a hotel for one or several nights. Yet, most of the time, this line is busy and so it is extremely difficult to get a place to sleep.

f you are in an illegal situation, you do not have the right to work.

You have the ability to work without being registered or declared, but that is not legal. However, in case of control or inspection, only the employer will be at fault according the law.

Even if you are not declared, you have the same rights as another employee regarding the minimum wage, the working time, the security… In case of a job-related accident, your employer is required by the law to report it, even if you were not declared when it happened. If you meet problems, you can get in touch with the enterprise trade union (sud asso, CGT…)

At times, some employers accept to declare people without residence permit, to allow them to resolve their situation thanks to the work, following several years. Some people also work under a different name. To get more informations about regularization through work, you can contact specific associations (La Cimade, les ASTI…). 

Whether you worked or not (being declared or not), you must fill out your tax return. This is a proof of attendance and integration in France, and a tax assessment can be asked to assert your rights.

Check out this video to know how you can fill the Tax declaration form..

If you benefited from the AME, and you live in Ile-de-France, you have the right to request the Solidarité Transport and so get a 50 % off discount on your Navigo Pass.

To claim a discount, you must have the AME card and request a free Navigo pass to a RATP agency. As soon as you get it, you need then to request the discount to the Solidarité transport agency, by phone : 0800948999 or online : http://www.solidaritetransport.fr/

Check out this video to know how you can apply for the Solidarity Transport benefits..

You do have the right to open a bank account, especially a current account, in any bank, without conditions of regularity. To do so, you need to show a valid passport, a housing certificate, or a domiciliation certificate.

In France, opening a bank account is a right. If a bank denies you this right, you should request a refusal letter to this bank, and get in touch with an association to be helped.