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Your first-month checklist

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1. Step 1: Validate your student visa (VLS-TS)

   If your visa is a VLS-TS, you must validate it online within 3 months of arrival. EPITA's deadline is 15 October 2026. Keep the attestation with you.

   Deadline Thu 15 Oct

2. Step 2: Open a bank account in France

   A French bank account (and its RIB) is needed for health insurance, CAF and Navigo instalments. Here is how opening one usually works and what to do if a bank refuses.

3. Step 3: Pay the CVEC and unlock your school certificate

   The CVEC is a compulsory yearly student contribution of 105 euros. Pay it online, upload the certificate number in the Student Portal, and EPITA unlocks your school certificate.

   Deadline Thu 15 Oct

4. Step 4: Register for French health insurance (Assurance Maladie)

   Non-European students register online on the ameli student site, get a social security number, then request a Carte Vitale. Prepare your documents first, especially the birth certificate.

5. Step 5: See a doctor in France

   Book on Doctolib, check the doctor is sector 1 and takes the Carte Vitale, declare a médecin traitant to be reimbursed 70% instead of 30%, and know who to call in an emergency.

6. Step 6: Mutuelle (top-up health insurance) and CSS

   A mutuelle is optional private insurance that covers what Assurance Maladie leaves. Low-income students may qualify for the state-supported Complémentaire santé solidaire (CSS).

7. Step 7: Public transport in Paris (Navigo)

   Use a Navigo Easy card for single tickets, or subscribe online to the Imagine R student pass (401.30 euros a year, payable in 9 instalments) if you are under 26.

8. Step 8: CAF housing aid (APL)

   CAF can pay part of your rent, but since July 2026 most non-EU students on a study visa can only get it with a social-criteria scholarship. Check the simulator before you count on it.