Retiring in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha as a French National: Residence, Taxation of the Pension and Health

Saint Helena. The government describes three authorisations: a landing permit for 24 hours, a short-term entry permit for 183 days at most and a long-term entry permit beyond that. According to France Diplomatie, the short-term permit is issued on arrival against a fee payable in pounds, euros, rand or dollars, with a return ticket, accommodation, resources and insurance covering at least £175,000 of medical costs and repatriation; it can be extended to six months if the conditions are still met and the application is made before expiry. The long-term entry permit, valid for up to five years, requires from the immigration service a passport valid six months beyond the permit, proof of resources for yourself and your dependants, the same insurance, proof of being able to pay for the return journey, and criminal record certificates (form F). No specific retiree status is described.

The immigration policy published by the government specifies that permit holders who are neither in employment, nor in business, nor investors have no recourse to public funds and are not entitled to care at local rates; insurance or proof of means for the family’s evacuation is then required. Saint Helenian status, which opens entry as of right, requires an application after five years of presence (three for the spouse of a holder), with the intention of making the island one’s main home. For a residence project, the immigration service (appointment on +290 22287) is the contact.

Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. The Ascension government writes that there is no right of residence: the island is “a working island” where you reside under a contract, and everyone must leave it at the end of their last contract. On Tristan da Cunha, all the land is communal and outsiders can neither buy land nor settle. These two islands are therefore not retirement destinations for a newcomer.

The list of tax treaties published by the BOFiP (the French tax administration’s official guidance) includes neither Saint Helena, nor Ascension, nor Tristan da Cunha, and the entry for the United Kingdom, which cites conventions of 21 June 1963 and 19 June 2008, mentions no extension to a territory. The list of tax information exchange agreements does not cite them either. Tax residence remains defined by article 4 B of the General Tax Code (home or main place of stay, professional activity, centre of economic interests); a single criterion is enough to be resident in France.

For a retiree who has become a non-resident, service-public indicates that only income of French source is in principle taxable in France, including pensions paid by a payer established in France. As no treaty exists here, domestic law applies: according to the BOFiP, these pensions are subject to the withholding at source of article 182 A of the General Tax Code, calculated after a 10% allowance, under a progressive scale with three rates (0%, 12% and 20%) whose thresholds are set each year; the 12% withholding is final, and the portion taxed at 20% is credited against the tax calculated on the return, which cannot be below a minimum rate, unless the taxpayer opts for the average rate when it is more favourable. Filing a return remains compulsory each year. The non-resident individuals tax office clarifies the individual situation.

On the local side, the Saint Helena government defines taxable income as income received or earned in or from the island; the treatment of a foreign pension and the notion of local tax residence are referred to guides from the Income Tax Office (Jamestown, +290 22825). On Ascension, income tax applies to anyone who works or profits from their presence on the island, pensions included. A retiree who is no longer a tax resident in France pays neither CSG nor CRDS, according to CLEISS (the French centre for European and international social security liaison). To receive your pension abroad, the guide receiving your pension abroad details the steps.

Form S1 exists for European Union countries and equivalents; these territories are not among them, and CLEISS lists no agreement. CLEISS indicates that it is up to the retiree to check with local institutions how far the local scheme covers their care, and that they may join the CFE voluntarily or take out private insurance. The CFE retirees’ plan, priced on quotation according to country, age and family situation, includes no health questionnaire: it covers only care received abroad, and care in France remains covered by the French compulsory scheme. The guide retiree health insurance abroad and the page healthcare reimbursement detail the cases.

On Saint Helena, Jamestown General Hospital provides routine care, but France Diplomatie reminds us that specialist care does not exist on the island and that local facilities can only provide basic emergency services; referrals to South Africa or the United Kingdom are reserved, for elective procedures, for holders of Saint Helenian status. Insurance that covers evacuation is therefore the central element of the arrangement (see healthcare system). During a temporary stay in France, cover applies to holders of a French pension with at least 15 years of insurance in France; an accompanying spouse is not covered and must take out their own insurance.

The island’s basic pension (Basic Island Pension) is paid to residents aged 65 and over who have worked at least 20 years on Saint Helena and have only small supplementary pensions. The government indicates that it is not funded by employee or employer contributions but paid from its budget. A French national who has not worked on the island therefore has no entitlement to it, and CLEISS specifies that, without an agreement, local insurance periods do not count towards the French pension. A private pension scheme, open to employees on the island, exists on a voluntary basis. The social security notices (Jamestown office, +290 22605) describe the benefits, changes of circumstances and appeals.

The Saint Helena statistics office publishes a price index every quarter and a household expenditure survey, which make it possible to follow price trends; rents and property prices do not appear in the official sources read. An immigrant and their relatives may together hold up to two acres of land without a licence; beyond that, a landholding licence is examined by the Immigration Control Board, and it does not amount to authorisation of entry. Economic indicators are shown in the “Economic benchmarks” block above.

Daily life calls for adaptation: no cash machine, bank cards accepted in few shops, British-type electrical sockets and driving on the left on roads that are mostly single-lane. The Saint Helena pound is at par with the pound sterling, and the pound sterling also circulates on the island.

The official sources read do not rank the districts. The benchmarks come from public services: Jamestown concentrates the hospital, the dental service, the social security office and the tax office; district clinics operate in Half Tree Hollow, Longwood, Levelwood and St Johns Villa, where nurses can also make home visits for people who are bedridden or in palliative care. Proximity to care matters for a retiree, all the more so as the island has no hyperbaric chamber and no permanent specialists. The government mentions about 25 maintained hiking trails and a subtropical climate, with temperatures mostly between 20 and 27 °C.

The France Diplomatie page names no consular post for the island: it mentions an honorary consul and refers to the French consulates in Cape Town or Johannesburg in the event of a lost passport. Registration on the roll of French nationals living abroad is valid for five years; the French embassy in South Africa (+27 12 425 1600) is the first contact to confirm the competent post.

Service-public indicates that a CFE member may keep certain expatriate benefits for the three months following their return, under conditions. A retiree who returns to settle in France with no activity must show three consecutive months of residence before their rights to Universal Health Protection open (form S1106). See the page returning to France.