Before you start

A residence permit or validated visa
Proof of stable residence in France
An employment contract or proof of activity, for the fastest route
A French RIB, for reimbursements

Step-by-step

1
Start the social security registration in your first week
If you are employed, your employer initiates it, but the process is slow and you should track it rather than assume it is moving. The number is what everything else hangs off. Expect months rather than weeks and do not read the delay as a sign something has gone wrong.
Via employerWho: You and your employerWeek 1
2
Start looking for a médecin traitant immediately
Naming a family doctor with the fund raises your reimbursement rate permanently and is the gateway to specialists. Coastal Var practices close their lists, and the summer population surge makes it worse. Ask colleagues and neighbours, ask at the pharmacy, and if you genuinely cannot find one, ask the CPAM about its mediation service for patients without a family doctor.
In personWho: YouWeek 1
3
Keep every feuille de soins until the card actually works
Until the carte Vitale arrives you pay in full and the practitioner gives you a paper claim form. Keep all of them — once your file is active they are reimbursed retroactively, and people routinely lose several hundred euros by discarding paperwork that appeared to be going nowhere.
In personWho: You
4
Know which hospital is which before you need one
The public hospital group for the area is centred on Sainte-Musse in Toulon, and there is also a large military teaching hospital, Sainte-Anne, in the city. Their roles are different and an appointment letter will tell you which site you are going to. Confirm the address rather than assuming, because the two are not interchangeable and they are not next to each other.
OnlineWho: You
5
Take the employer mutuelle unless you have a specific reason not to
The state reimburses most but not all of a consultation and covers dental and optical care poorly. Employers are generally required to offer a complementary scheme and to fund at least half of it. Almost everyone in France carries one.
Via employerWho: You
6
Learn the emergency numbers, including the one for the sea
15 for medical emergencies, 18 for fire and rescue, 112 for everything with English-speaking operators — and 196 for an emergency at sea, which is the number the maritime rescue centre answers. In a city where a great many people are on or in the water, that last one is worth knowing before the day you need it.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Residence permit or validated visa
Birth certificate with a sworn translation, frequently required
Employment contract or proof of activity
Justificatif de domicile
RIB for reimbursements

Things most newcomers don’t know

196 is the number for an emergency at sea and almost nobody inland knows it.

France runs maritime rescue through CROSS centres reachable on 196 from a mobile, or channel 16 on VHF. Calling 15 or 18 for someone in difficulty in the water routes you through a chain that has to hand the call on, and minutes matter. In a city built around a bay where swimming, sailing and diving are ordinary weekly activities, this is a two-second thing to learn that is genuinely load-bearing.

Source: ministère de la Mer — CROSS

Finding a médecin traitant on this coast is a project, and there is an official fallback.

General-practice coverage in the coastal Var is thin and lists close, and the seasonal population swing makes summer worse. Because the reimbursement rate outside the coordinated care pathway is materially lower, having no family doctor costs you on every consultation indefinitely. What most people never discover is that the CPAM operates a mediation service to help place patients who genuinely cannot find one. Ask for it by name rather than assuming the search is yours alone to lose.

Source: l'Assurance Maladie

Keep every paper claim form from your first months — they are literally money.

Before the carte Vitale arrives you pay in full and receive a feuille de soins to submit on paper. Once your file is active those claims are reimbursed retroactively, sometimes many months later. New arrivals discard them because nothing appears to be happening, and then cannot reconstruct several hundred euros of legitimate reimbursement they were entitled to.

Source: l'Assurance Maladie

A translated birth certificate is the single most common reason a registration file sits still.

French social security registration frequently requires a full birth certificate, sometimes recently issued, translated by a court-approved sworn translator. Obtaining one from another country takes weeks, and the requirement rarely surfaces until the file is already open and waiting. Start it before you leave rather than when the caisse asks for it.

Source: l'Assurance Maladie

Common mistakes to avoid

Calling 15 rather than 196 for someone in difficulty in the water.
Leaving the search for a médecin traitant until you are ill, on a coast where lists are closed.
Discarding paper claim forms before your social security file is active.
Arriving without a translated birth certificate and stalling registration for weeks.
Declining the employer mutuelle without understanding what the state does not cover.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.