Retiring in Benin: Residence, Taxation of the Pension, Health and Cost of Living

A French retiree enters Benin with a visa requested online on the official evisa.bj platform, with a passport valid at least 6 months after the return date, a return ticket and the yellow fever vaccination certificate (France Diplomatie). To settle long term, they then apply for a resident card from the Directorate of Emigration and Immigration. The official sources consulted describe no visa specific to retirees: the list of documents and the income conditions should be confirmed with that directorate, whose website was temporarily unavailable when we consulted it. A pension statement is a useful proof of income to have ready.

The French embassy specifies that the resident card file includes a repatriation bond: French nationals can deposit €503.08 with the French Caisse des dépôts et consignations, online, then present the receipt to the consular section. This bond does not cover repatriation costs: a medical emergency, evacuation or death remain at the person’s expense.

Remember to register on the register of French nationals living abroad, which the embassy recommends for any stay of more than 6 months. The checklist for the first 90 days helps you put the move in order, and the page on living in Benin details the formalities and daily life.

France and Benin are bound by a tax treaty signed in Cotonou on 27 February 1975, approved by the law of 3 June 1977 and in force since 8 November 1977 (BOFiP, the French tax doctrine database). Concluded with the Republic of Dahomey, now Benin, it avoids double taxation and organises assistance between administrations. Its article XXI lays down a simple rule: pensions and life annuities are taxable only in the contracting state where the recipient has their tax domicile. A retiree who moves their tax residence to Benin is therefore taxed under Beninese law on their French pension, and is no longer taxed in France on it; a retiree who keeps their tax domicile in France remains taxed in France.

The CLEISS specifies that, without tax residence in France, the CSG, the CRDS and the Casa no longer apply to the pension and are replaced by a health contribution of 3.2% on the basic pension and 4.2% on the complementary pension. The treaty makes no separate rule for civil service pensions: have your case checked by the French tax office for non-resident individuals before fixing your residence. Beninese scales are set by the country’s tax law: seek information from the Beninese tax administration. The guides to receiving your pension abroad and quarters worked abroad complement these benchmarks.

French pension funds pay the pension into an account, in France or abroad. They may ask retirees living outside France for a proof of life each year, a single certificate being valid for all funds. It must be returned within the month following the notice of availability in the personal account, failing which payment of the pension may be suspended (service-public.gouv.fr). Several routes exist: biometric recognition with the “Mon certificat de vie” (“My proof of life”) app, installed using a QR code received by post or email, an automatic data exchange with the civil registry of the country of residence, a check by an approved trusted third party or a certificate endorsed by the consular service. From 1^st January 2028, proof will have to be provided by biometric recognition.

As the CFA franc is pegged to the euro at the fixed parity of 655.957 CFA francs to €1, euro transfers convert without exchange-rate surprises. Keep an account in France for French direct debits and a local account for everyday spending.

A retiree’s budget varies with the city, the housing and the level of comfort sought. The official sources consulted do not publish a rent scale or a typical budget: two benchmarks help build your own. The fixed parity of 655.957 CFA francs to €1 keeps conversions stable. According to the DG Trésor (the French Treasury), 2023 imports are dominated by cereals and rice (18%) and energy products (17%): imported products weigh on everyday spending.

As the guide to budgeting for health abroad suggests, set aside a separate line for the health insurance premium (CFE or private insurance), one of the largest items of a retiree’s budget abroad. Renting for the first months lets you test the district before any purchase; for a property purchase, have the title deed checked by a local notary or lawyer.

The CLEISS reminds readers that the 1979 France-Benin social security agreement offers a French retiree no coverage of care in Benin. The European coordination scheme of form S1, which allows you to transfer your rights to the cover of another country, concerns pensions paid by a European country (service-public.gouv.fr): it does not apply in Benin. Two solutions, which can be combined, exist:

• voluntary enrolment in the CFE, which reimburses under French health insurance rules and offers a plan dedicated to retirees (see the glossary entry on the retirees’ plan), with immediate cover if you enrol before departure or within 3 months of settling;
• private insurance, with a medical questionnaire, ceilings and evacuation depending on the contract (see medical questionnaire and medical history).

The Caisse mutuelle de protection sociale (a mutual social protection fund), with optional enrolment, reimburses 70% of care in approved establishments (CLEISS), and the health insurance obligation reaffirmed by the Council of Ministers of 29 October 2025 applies to everyone residing in the country; its arrangements for a foreigner should be confirmed with the ANPS (the National Social Protection Agency). Details are on the page on healthcare reimbursement in Benin and in the guide to retirees’ health insurance abroad.

During temporary stays in France, care is covered if the pension corresponds to at least 15 years of insurance in France, comes from a French basic scheme and the retiree carries on no activity; hospitalisation beyond one month requires prior medical recognition, and the spouse who accompanies them is not covered (CLEISS). See also retirement insurance abroad.

France Diplomatie recommends returning to France for treatment in the event of a serious health problem, and taking out a policy covering hospitalisation and medical repatriation. For a retiree, age and medical history increase the likelihood of a transfer: check the ceiling, the transfer destination, the accompanying person and the cover of any prolonged hospitalisation. The repatriation bond for the resident card does not cover these costs.

See the guide to how a medical repatriation works, the page on repatriation and assistance and the organisation of care described in the Beninese healthcare system guide.

The south of the country concentrates consular, school and health services. Cotonou, the main city and seat of the French embassy, is home to the reference hospital establishments; France Diplomatie recommends avoiding at night the port districts and those that run along the railway lines in the city centre, and specifies that the capital’s beaches are not safe. Porto-Novo, the official capital, offers a similar setting with a departmental hospital centre. French, the official language, makes daily procedures easier.

For the rest of the territory, read France Diplomatie’s Safety page: the centre of the Atakora department and a strip running from Kandi to Tchaourou are advised against except for compelling reasons, and the border areas with Burkina Faso and Niger, the Pendjari and W parks, Banikoara, the north-west border with Togo and the north-east border with Nigeria as far as the area around Nikki are formally advised against. Health alerts report annual meningitis epidemics in the north in the dry season, from December to March.