Living in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon When You Come from Mainland France

Saint-Pierre and Miquelon lies on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, 25 km from Canada and 4,300 km from Paris. Over 242 km², eight islands make up the archipelago, two of them inhabited: Saint-Pierre (26 km²), the smallest and most populated, with about 5,200 inhabitants, and Miquelon-Langlade (216 km²), a group of two islands linked by a sand spit about ten kilometres long, which has nearly 600 inhabitants. The territory is an overseas collectivity of the Republic, governed by Article 74 of the Constitution (see the health and social protection guide).

The climate is oceanic, cold and damp, at the meeting point of polar air masses, the cold Labrador current and the Gulf Stream. The IEDOM (the overseas issuing institute) notes cold winters, short cool summers, winds often above 60 km/h and around a hundred days of fog a year. The average annual temperature is +5.3 °C, with −3.6 °C in February and 15.7 °C in August. The archipelago shares the latitude of Nantes (47° North) while falling within a subarctic zone, which explains a boreal forest, more than 330 bird species and puffin colonies at the Grand Colombier.

The population has been falling by about 0.4% a year for more than twenty years: deaths exceed births, and young people leaving to study in mainland France or Canada. The share of over-65s reaches nearly 19%. For a newcomer, this means a tight-knit community life, more limited local services in Miquelon, and a labour market where public administration weighs heavily. The details are in the page on working in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.

A French citizen needs neither a visa nor a residence permit: the prefecture reserves its “procedures for foreigners” pages for foreign nationals. Everyday procedures, however, take place on site: national identity cards, passports and driving licences by appointment at the prefecture (titles department on 05 08 41 10 10, secure titles on 09 70 83 07 07), with a prefecture office in Miquelon-Langlade (05 08 41 62 33). The national identity card is renewed in the twelve months before its expiry.

• Before departure: report your departure to the primary health insurance fund, to the CAF (the French family allowance fund) and to France Travail (the French employment agency) to avoid overpayments. The CPS recommends this and specifies that the coordination decree of 10 May 2011 eases the move from one scheme to the other whatever the nationality.
• Health cover: ask your fund for the certificate of insurance periods (form SE 975-02), to hand to the CPS. The guide to healthcare reimbursement details what changes for each situation.
• On arrival: register with the CPS (identity document, family record book, bank details, children’s school certificate, certificate from the former fund and carte Vitale; local payslip for an employee, transfer order for a civil servant).
• Taxes: the archipelago has its own local tax code. For a move during the year, the tax department indicates separate returns the following year: the mainland return (form 2042) for the period before arrival, and a local return from the day of settlement to 31 December.
• Removals: freight to the archipelago is mainly carried by sea, according to the IEDOM; lead times and rates are requested from the carrier before fixing an arrival date.

For the journey, the archipelago is most often reached through a Canadian airport. According to the government of Canada, a French citizen in transit needs an electronic travel authorisation; French citizens living in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon who travel directly to Canada are exempt. Since 5 June 2026, most visa-exempt travellers who reach Canada by boat from the archipelago must also obtain one.

Remoteness and the narrowness of the market weigh on prices. The spatial price comparison survey carried out by Insee (the French national statistics institute) (Fisher index, five validated categories) puts food at +70.1% compared with mainland France, restaurants and hotels at +42.8% and communications at +164%. Conversely, alcoholic drinks and tobacco (−8.7%) and miscellaneous goods and services (−27.1%) are cheaper, linked to different local taxation. The IEDOM specifies that the biggest gaps are for dairy and sweet products, and that they are smaller for meat, seafood and cereals.

Inflation remains moderate, with energy prices weighing on annual changes. Over the long term, prices rise faster in the archipelago than in France as a whole, a trend close to that of Canada. As 40% of imported consumer goods come from Canada, the exchange rate between the euro and the Canadian dollar influences local prices.

Two schemes regulate part of spending: the quality-price shield, which sets a maximum price, revised each year, for a basket of 55 items including 42 food products, and a monthly prefectural order on fuel prices. The archipelago has no VAT, a feature of its local taxation. Average declared incomes amount to more than €30,000 for employees and more than €50,000 for public service staff; the minimum wage (SMIC) is the same as in mainland France (see the work page).

According to Insee’s census, the housing stock comprises more than 3,400 homes, about 2,700 of them main homes and about 550 second homes or occasional homes. For 74.8% of households, it is a home they own (57.5% in France excluding Mayotte), and 70% of main homes have five rooms or more. Only 19.5% of main homes are rented (525 homes) against 40.3% in France excluding Mayotte: the rental supply is judged insufficient, particularly in summer with the arrival of seasonal workers.

Rents are rising, according to the price index published by the prefecture. Social housing comprises more than 120 homes, 10 of them in Miquelon, managed by the Saint-Pierre communal social action centre and by a second body on behalf of the Territorial Collectivity; the IEDOM cites rents capped at 25% of income at the former and about €7 per square metre including charges at the latter. The Caisse de prévoyance sociale pays housing aid (social and family housing allowance), whose calculation is gradually being aligned with ordinary law.

The territorial housing programme provides for 96 new homes in time, 77 of them in Saint-Pierre, and the Collectivity supports subsidised rental housing. The climate means budgeting for energy and maintenance (roofs, facades, insulation), which weigh all the more as floor area is large. For a purchase project, locally established credit institutions provide nearly 90% of household housing financing.

Education falls under the national education system: the head of the archipelago’s education service exercises the duties of academic director and certain rectoral powers, under the authority of the rector of Caen. Saint-Pierre has one public nursery school, two primary schools (one public, one private), one private primary school, one private lower secondary school, one public general lower and upper secondary school and one vocational upper secondary school; Miquelon has a school from nursery to lower secondary. Pupils from Miquelon join Saint-Pierre from secondary level and are housed with host families or, since 2024, in the success boarding house (26 places).

The archipelago has more than 900 pupils in school, about 560 of them in public schools and about 380 in private schools under contract, with a ratio of about 6 pupils per teacher. The pass rate for the national lower secondary diploma (brevet) is close to the national average. The vocational upper secondary school offers in particular CAPs and six vocational baccalaureates, and the apprentice training centre created in 2021 covers thirteen CAPs, three vocational baccalaureates and three BTS diplomas.

There is no higher education institution on site, apart from the tourism BTS at the apprentice training centre: only 21.9% of 18-24 year-olds are in education. Most students choose mainland France, some neighbouring Canada, and the Collectivity covers air transport for scholarship holders who leave for Canada. Families planning higher education can consult the pages on student insurance and the student guide.

The local airline provides territorial continuity under a public service delegation: regular flights to Montréal, Halifax and St. John’s (Newfoundland), about a dozen direct flights to France in the summer season, and rotations to Miquelon (20 a week). A regular sea route links Fortune (Newfoundland) to Saint-Pierre with two ferries; Fortune is four hours by road from St. John’s. Between Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, two ferries run four to five days a week (up to six in summer, no service on Wednesday), and air rotations depend on the weather.

Life in Miquelon is marked by a smaller range of services: a single GP, a nursery school, a primary-lower secondary school and a cash machine. State services there are provided by a prefecture office (passports, identity cards, licences). The IEDOM also notes that the village of Miquelon, which has about 600 inhabitants, has to be moved because of rising sea levels, a project that shapes local planning.

As for leisure, tourism welcomes nearly 12,000 visitors a year (excluding cruises), mostly from Canada (61%) and the United States (30%), with summer events such as the 25-kilometre Miquelon race in June or the Basque festival in August. The labour market is close to full employment (unemployment around 3%), which makes it easier for a spouse looking for work to find a place.

• Advantages: French citizen status with no residence permit; life in French and in euros; employment close to full employment; minimum wage identical to mainland France; public education from nursery to upper secondary school with 6.2 pupils per teacher; unspoilt nature and proximity to Canada; a local hospital and a first-line health centre.
• Drawbacks: higher prices, especially for food; rentals are scarce; cold climate, wind and fog; no higher education and no private upper secondary school; medical specialities provided by visiting missions and medical evacuations; local social protection separate from the mainland, with the solidarity supplementary health scheme not applicable.

For a stay of a few months, seasonal links and winter weather justify allowing a margin of flexibility. For a lasting move, the budget comparison with mainland France, the organisation of healthcare and retirement usefully complete this overview.