🗺 Every year, 1.4 million people living abroad have to prove their existence to the French schemes that pay their pensions. Payment can be suspended if the life certificate is not completed and sent in on time!
🇵🇹In Portugal, life certificates were previously completed by the Juntas de Freguesia.
In principle, automatic data exchange has been in place for several months now, but this presupposes that civil status data (surname, first name, date of birth, etc.) are recorded in exactly the same way in France and Portugal.
🆕 🔎 A new measure was introduced at the beginning of September 2024:
A free, online secure application called ‘My life certificate’, which allows you to validate your life certificate using your smartphone, with no need to go anywhere.
This is a biometric authentication solution (static and dynamic facial recognition).
The aim is to implement a 100% paperless process, eliminating the need to have the life certificate signed by the Junta de Freguesia.
⚖️ The legal basis: decree no. 2023-688 of 28 July 2023 - authorises the use of biometric recognition (static and dynamic facial recognition) as part of the ‘existence check’ for pensioners living abroad. Pension schemes have thus been able to provide pensioners with a new way of confirming that they are alive and well, without having to go anywhere.
📱 🤳🏽 In practical terms:
Using the ‘My life certificate’ application on their mobile phone, the insured person can validate their life certificate in just a few minutes, without having to go anywhere, by taking a selfie or getting help from someone close to them. They can also certify their marital status, if requested by the schemes.
When the insured person needs to prove their existence, they will receive a QR code in their letter or e-mail notification, enabling them to install the application on their phone free of charge.
⚠️ The biometric solution can be used by the insured person provided that:
he/she has a current existence check,
the French pension authorities know their date of birth,
their phone is technically compatible: iOs version equal to or higher than 14.3 or an Android version equal to or higher than 9,
their identity document is compatible: a valid passport or an identity card (with an optical reading zone, also known as an MRZ) issued by a European country (with some exceptions), Algeria or Morocco.
💻 Check out 👉🏽 here 👈🏽 for a video explaining this new biometric recognition solution.