Retiring in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Stay, Taxation of the Pension and Access to Care

The Service for Foreigners of the Ministry of Security presents no ground of residence entitled ‘retiree’. A retired French national stays without a visa for 90 days in any 180-day period, then applies for a temporary residence authorisation, granted for up to one year on one of the legal grounds: family reunification, studies, humanitarian reasons, work, real estate ownership with an effective link to the country, or other justified reasons. A retiree may look in particular at real estate ownership, family reunification or other justified reasons; the admissibility of the ground is confirmed with the service on +387 33 772 950 or at info@sps.gov.ba.

The common conditions are a passport valid at least three months beyond the period requested, sufficient means of subsistence, suitable housing, health insurance, a medical certificate of less than three months and a certificate of no criminal record of less than six months. The exact amount of resources required is not quantified on the pages consulted: it should be confirmed with the service before filing. The first application is filed at the embassy or consulate of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at least 15 days before the expiry of any visa-free stay; extension is made at the latest 15 days before expiry, on the same ground.

After five years of continuous temporary residence, permanent residence becomes available with a valid passport, regular means, housing, health insurance and knowledge of one of the official languages and one of the official alphabets. Registration with the police remains mandatory within 48 hours of arrival, and the address must be declared at each change.

The French pension can be paid in France or abroad. Every year, the retiree returns a proof of existence completed by the competent local authority of their country of residence, for example the town hall or the police station. According to Assurance retraite, it is sent online from the personal account, by post to the overseas pension processing centre in Tours, or with the ‘Mon certificat de vie’ app. If the certificate is not returned within two months, payment of the pension is suspended; an adviser answers on +33 9 74 75 76 99 from Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Franco-Yugoslav agreement makes benefits exportable: in the case of a career in both countries, insurance periods are totalled without overlap, a theoretical pension is calculated and then prorated, and the insured person chooses, when the right opens, between joint application and separate application of the two legislations. On the Bosnian side, the legal age is 65 with at least 15 years of contributions, and the minimum pension, revised regularly, is around KM 540 in the Federation and KM 550 in the Republika Srpska for 40 years of contributions (CLEISS). See the guides to receiving your pension abroad and quarters worked abroad.

The tax treaty concluded in Paris on 28 March 1974 between France and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, in force since 1 August 1975, continues to take effect between France and Bosnia and Herzegovina under the exchange of letters of 3 and 4 December 2003 (BOFiP, the French tax administration’s official doctrine; impots.gouv.fr). Its Article 18 provides that, subject to Article 19, pensions and similar remuneration paid to a resident of one State in respect of past employment are taxable only in that State. A retiree resident in Bosnia and Herzegovina therefore sees their private pension of French source taxable in their country of residence. Article 19 reserves to the paying State the right to tax public pensions paid for services rendered to the State, a local authority or a public body: a civil servant’s pension remains in principle taxable in France.

Residence is determined under Article 4: permanent home, then centre of vital interests, habitual abode and nationality. On the Bosnian side, the text of the Federation’s income tax law published by the federal tax administration lists a resident’s pension, acquired abroad or in Bosnia and Herzegovina, among the income not considered taxable income, and defines the resident by a domicile in the Federation or 183 days or more of stay during a tax period; as the version consulted is old, these points should be confirmed on the consolidated text in force. For the Republika Srpska and the Brčko District, the taxation of pensions should be checked with the local tax authority. On the French side, a retiree whose tax residence is no longer in France pays neither CSG, nor CRDS, nor CASA on their pension (CLEISS). Dividends, interest and royalties follow Articles 10 to 12.

The S1 form, which organises cover for a retiree living in the European Union, has no equivalent here. The 1950 agreement offers a special procedure: the holder of a French pension with no right of their own in Bosnia and Herzegovina approaches the Bosnian fund of their residence, which checks that no local right exists and then forwards form SE 21-34 to the French basic pension fund; the latter replies with the SE 21-35 (approval) or the SE 21-36 (refusal). With the SE 21-35, the Bosnian fund reimburses the care of the retiree and of their dependants living with them. No certificate is issued before departure. During temporary stays in France, the holder of the SE 21-35 is covered, with prior authorisation from the CPAM (the local health insurance office) beyond one month of hospitalisation; the spouse is not covered during these stays and is better off taking out insurance. The CNAREFE (CPAM of Seine-et-Marne; the health insurance centre for retirees living abroad) handles these files.

The CFE offers its retiree offer (with a contribution that depends on age and the plan chosen) to be confirmed with the CFE depending on age and family situation. International insurance completes the arrangement for private facilities and repatriation, which France Diplomatie (the French foreign ministry’s travel advice) judges essential. The guide to health insurance for retirees abroad and the page on insurance for retirees abroad detail the options; the page on healthcare reimbursement compares the situations.

No official statistics on rents or a typical retiree budget were found for this page: these levels should be checked with local agencies at the time of the project. Health spending deserves a specific budget line: direct payments represent about a third of the country’s health expenditure (European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies), and the local insured person’s contribution reaches about 10 to 20% of the price of a consultation, 10 to 25% in the Republika Srpska (CLEISS). A pension received in euros is converted into convertible marks (KM); exchange rates, inflation and the standard of living are tracked in the economic indicators block above.

To estimate their budget, a retiree adds up rent or the cost of ownership, health cover (CFE or international insurance), the costs of the stay (administrative fees, annual renewal) and the cost of travel to France.

Sarajevo is home to the French embassy, its consular section, the French Institute and the French international school; Banja Luka and Mostar have Campus France spaces (French embassy). For a retiree, proximity to healthcare services matters as much as the price of housing. France Diplomatie reports air pollution from December to February in Sarajevo, Tuzla and Zenica, which invites people with respiratory or heart conditions to stay indoors when possible.

A retiree registers on the register of French nationals living abroad with the embassy and notes the emergency numbers given in the healthcare system page. The page on living in Bosnia and Herzegovina details settling in and the page on the healthcare system how care is organised. Expavy helps to prepare health cover before departure.