New French Healthcare Taxes Expected for Visitor Visa Holders

American Retirees are getting targeted specifically by French regulators on this one. While the new tax will likely apply to anyone from a non-EU country (except those like the UK with bilateral healthcare agreements) on a VLS-TS visiteur visa, the heat is specifically on Americans like us.

The goal is to plug the €23 billion budget deficit, and the 153,000 Americans in France may be the magic bullet. It seems they’ve wisened to the US-France tax treaty and are coming for their pound of flesh.

The News

Big news this weekend, and not just on English-language French news sites. This even managed to hit the front page of Reddit with sensational headlines. How could you not read an article about Americans freely benefiting from someone else’s social security?

For those who have not seen, here are the articles covering this topic:
Connexion
LeMonde
TheLocal

This new amendment has only been passed by the French Members of Parliament and must still be approved by the Senate as part of the wider 2026 budget negotiations, so nothing is yet set in stone. The actual tax/fee still hasn’t been created, so no one knows if this will be a percentage tax, a flat fee structure, or something else entirely. But given it passed with huge support in a normally split Parliament, this is almost certainly not going to go away. The French Taxman has Americans in his crosshairs.

The CSM/Puma Tax

As the tax codes exist today, there is a provision for retirees to pay their “fair share” of social charges, known as the Cotisation subsidiaire maladie, or CSM tax. For anyone not working and paying social charges through income tax, there is a flat 6.5% social charge on income from investments, rental property abroad, etc. However, this is only charged on income between €23,550 and €376,800 per individual in 2025. The situation where retirees aren’t paying anything exists when an individual has income below €23,550 or a couple below €47,100.

Many areas of France aren’t terribly expensive, and it’s entirely feasible for a retired couple to live quite well on an income at or below €47k. The double whammy for Americans, and the reason we’re being targeted, exists because of the tax treaty: capital gains taxes are only owed to the US, not France. So instead of owing 30% tax to France, it’s only paid to the US, often at 0%.

Note: This is our understanding of how the French taxes and tax treaty will work. As we moved here in January 2025, we’ve yet to actually file our taxes. Rest assured, there’ll be a full and detailed write-up about the experience when we do. But it seems CSM taxes are not billed until November or December of the following year, so we may still be a year away from receiving any bill at all.

How it may be implemented

So far, there’s only the intention to close this loophole and tax foreign retirees for their use of the healthcare system. No details on how this may be implemented have been released yet. Until then, we can only speculate on what the charge may look like.

The €23,550 limit may be eliminated for those on the VLS-TS Visitor visas, and 6.5% levied on all passive income. That would add up to €1500 per person, or €3000 for a couple at the €47k income limit. For those at the lower limit of qualifying for a Visitor visa, making only €17k per year, it would add €1100 to the cost of the visa.

France could also follow the example of the UK, which charges about £1000 per year, per individual for foreigners on visas using the public healthcare system. Knowing France, this would likely be in addition to the existing CSM taxes, and high earners would also be expected to pay the 6.5% rate.

Or they could go a different direction entirely. As this is currently only targeting Visitor visa holders, it will likely only apply during the first 5 years. After that point, most foreigners will qualify for a 10-year residence card, losing the Visitor status and gaining the right to work in France.

How much can they actually collect?

This math is based on the Ministry of the Interior’s 2025 paper on Issuance of Visas to Foreigners for 2024. Visiteur visas make up 70% of the Autres (others) category. 33% of visas issued to Americans fall into the Autres category. Of the 16,782 Americans who received VLS-TS long séjour visas in 2024, roughly 3900 were VLS-TS visiteur visas.

If all 3900 of us paid €1500, France could collect an extra €5,850,000 per year. Assuming everyone stays for five years as visiteurs, that’s potentially €29,250,000. A far cry from €23 billion, but it’s a start.

Is it fair?

Is it fair that a bunch of “rich” Americans can move to France and suckle from the teat of Universal Healthcare, without ever having paid their fair share into the system? Is it fair that any country has higher tax rates for citizens than for foreigners? Should a fit and healthy person pay the same for healthcare as an obese smoker? Who decides what counts as fair? Those who pay in, or those who take out?

Certainly, anyone who could come up with a totally fair tax system would win a Nobel prize.

From France’s perspective, this charge seems totally fair and justified. Healthcare isn’t free, so those benefiting from it who can afford to pay for it, should.

From the expat’s perspective, this seems totally reasonable. The only two points of contention are that those of us already here, it would’ve been nice to know about this beforehand. It’s never fun to find out last-minute about a tax increase of an as-yet-to-be-decided amount. Also, as part of the VLS-TS Visitor visa application, we were required to carry private insurance for the first year. Is it really necessary to require that and still charge for access to the public system?

Is the tax system fair?

As for the tax treaty and American retirees’ ability to move to France and pay no taxes, that’s a tougher nut to crack. They may not be paying their fair share into the system while alive, but with inheritance taxes up to 45% in France, versus ~0% in the US, their heirs will certainly be making up the difference. Most Americans aren’t moving to France with generous state pensions and no assets, leaving nothing in their estate. They’re coming with 401k and brokerage accounts stuffed full instead. All of which France has first dibs on when they die.

Furthermore, what if France charged the same tax rate to foreigners on visas as it does to her citizens? With an extra 30% tax on investments, would it still be a competitive retirement destination compared to more affordable locations like Spain, Portugal, Thailand, or Costa Rica? If all the American retirees left, would France be any closer to plugging the €23 billion hole in her budget?

Questions? Comments? We’d love to hear from you in the comment section or feel free to write us directly.

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