Showing Proof of Address (Justificatif de Domicile) in France

Jale

Nov 17 • 2 minute read

When you move to France to live longer than 6 months, you’ll be asked to prove where you live for many processes, such as registering for health insurance or applying for a french residence permit.

But how can you show proof of your residence in France? Let us guide you through how to obtain your justificatif de domicile and how to notify a change of address in France.

When will you a need proof of address in France?

Several tasks require you to submit a proof of address in France: from immigration processes to other general day-to-day administrative operations. For example:

To collect your French residence permit
To Open a bank account
For registering for different types of social contributions: French health insurance or housing benefit
For enrolling to study in France
To (register to) pay taxes
To obtain a driving license
To buy or sell a car
To get married in France

What’s considered proof of address in France?

When they ask you to show proof of residence in France, they usually want you to submit:

An electricity bill or contract certificate (attestation EDF)
Other utility bills: water, gas, or wifi
Your rental contract
A rent receipt
An insurance certificate

Keep in mind that for administrative procedures in France, your proof of address is only valid for 3 months. So if the document you’re using is issued more than 3 months ago, you’ll need to generate a new one.

The most common way to show your proof of address is by showing an electricity bill. Since an electricity bill is typically issued every 2 to 6 months, you can easily download the latest bill from [the EDF website](https://particulier.edf.fr/en/home/contract-and-consumption/billing.html] to show you’re sitll currently subscribed to the company.

Proof of address when you’ve just moved to France

If you’ve just moved to your home, and don’t have a utility bill yet, then you have 2 options:

Insurance policy
Your rental contract

Showing insurance policy

When you rent an apartment in France, you’re legally required to take liability insurance. So when you need to show proof of address in France, you can ask your insurer to send you a recent copy of the insurance policy as proof of your address.

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Read more about tenant laws in France to know your rights and obligations.

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Showing rental contract

Your rental contract must show your full name, date of moving in, date of moving out, and the residential address. To ensure that the authorities don’t doubt the legality of your document, it’s best to also submit rent receipts to prove you’ve paid your rent recently and still live at the property.

Proof of address when you live in a shared apartment in France

What happens if you love with your spouse or roommate and your name is not on the rental contract or any utility bills? There’s still a way to show proof of address with the attestation d'hébergement form.

If you live in a shared apartment and don’t have your name on the rental contract or utility bills, you need to ask the main tenant or owner of the house to fill out the attestation d'hébergement form.

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They can complete the attestation d'hébergement form online within a minute.

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Alongside the attestation d'hébergement form, you need to bring a copy of their ID or residency permit (if foreigner) and their justificatif de domicile to the officials.