French Retirees Abroad Face Digital Revolution: Biometric App Replaces Traditional Proof of Life

Changes for the "proof of life" of French retirees abroad. The supplementary pension scheme Agirc-Arrco reminds them of the new solution for the annual verification of their existence with the implementation of a biometric recognition system. Nearly 1.2 million insured persons residing abroad must each year justify their existence to all the French pension schemes that pay them a retirement pension by validating their certificate of life. Previously, several ways of carrying out this procedure were offered to them: by mail, online with the Ma retraite à l’étranger service, or even without any particular steps thanks to the automatic exchanges of civil status data between France and a number of countries.

Today, this procedure is carried out through a biometric recognition system via the secure Mon certificat de vie application offered by Info Retraite, a public interest group that brings together the mandatory, basic and supplementary pension schemes. This application allows insured persons to validate their certificate of life without having to go to a diplomatic and consular post or a local authority. Its use is quick and free for users.

In order to use the new biometric authentication solution, it is necessary to have a smartphone (iOS version equal to or greater than 14.3 or an Android version equal to or greater than 9) and a compatible identity document: passport or identity card issued by a European state (with some exceptions), Algeria or Morocco. The insured person receives a QR code by mail or email from the pension schemes, and installs the "Mon certificat de vie" application on a smartphone. He then photographs the identity document and follows the instructions to validate the certificate of life and download it. Once validated, the document is automatically transmitted to the insured person’s pension schemes, without any other sending to be done (no sending, either by email or by postal mail).

In case the certificate of life is not validated or the insured person does not wish to use the biometric option, he must use the form received by mail or download it from his retirement account, in the Ma retraite à l’étranger service, then have it completed by a competent local authority and send it back.

As a reminder, the French identity card is accepted in all European countries except Andorra, Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Outside Europe, it is accepted in Algeria, Argentina, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, United States, Ghana, Haiti, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Mali, Morocco, Mauritania, Mexico, Montenegro, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Republic of Congo, San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Uruguay, Vietnam.