Retiring in Wallis and Futuna: Pensions, Taxation and Access to Healthcare

Wallis and Futuna is part of the Republic: a retiree of French nationality needs neither a visa nor a residence permit. The visa conditions published by the State services concern foreign nationals (foreign spouse or relative), who apply to the nearest French consulate or the prefecture of their place of residence. Access is by air from Nouméa or Fiji, with two weekly flights (three in school holidays), and Futuna is reached from Wallis by an air rotation six days a week.

Settling in retirement means allowing for the distance: more than 16,000 km from mainland France, 1,870 km from New Caledonia. The page on living in Wallis and Futuna details the formalities and customs (removal allowance, vehicles excluded).

The Caisse des prestations sociales of the Wallis and Futuna islands is a territorial public body that runs a pay-as-you-go, defined-benefit scheme. According to its page, the basic pension is awarded to insured people of French nationality, aged 60, registered with the fund and having contributed for at least 15 years. The amount corresponds to the average salary of the best 15 years, multiplied by a rate of 2.60% for the first 15 years then 1.30% for each extra year. The Court of Audit specifies that the pension can be paid out at 57 with 35 years of contributions and that the pension rate comes close to two thirds of the salary of the best 15 years, for an average monthly pension of about XPF 150,000 (€1,257).

The application is made by a form and a letter addressed to the fund’s director, with the retirement decision, a copy of the identity document, the family record book and bank details. The contact details are on the CPSWF website. The scheme has about 250 employers, 2,300 contributing employees and more than 800 pensioners according to the Court of Audit, with a pension contribution rate raised gradually to reach 21% of salaries (two thirds employers, one third employees). The financial situation is judged worrying: pension reserves would run out in the medium term without adjustment, and a recovery scenario (retirement age of 62, early retirement at 60, a two-point rise in contributions, a lower pension rate) would push the deadline back (Court of Audit). The current parameters should be confirmed with the fund.

The survivor’s pension equals 50% of the deceased insured person’s pension, for a surviving French spouse aged at least 50 whose late spouse had contributed for 15 years; remarriage permanently ends the right. The pension social supplement, of XPF 14,333 a month, is aimed at people of French nationality aged 60 or over, who have lived in the territory for six months, with no income and married to an affiliated employee or retiree whose monthly income does not exceed XPF 90,000. A widowhood allowance also exists (ask the fund). The labour and social affairs inspectorate also manages a territorial aid for older people.

A retiree of a French scheme continues to receive their pension after transferring their residence; they inform their pension fund before leaving. The official sources consulted describe no coordination agreement between the mainland pension schemes and the CPSWF, and the CLEISS (the French centre for international social security links) publishes no dedicated sheet for the territory in the pages consulted: periods contributed on either side are requested from each fund. The French nationality condition and the 15 years of CPSWF contributions restrict access to its pension to long careers on site.

On returning to mainland France, affiliation to the Assurance Maladie (French public health insurance) follows ordinary law, with a stable and regular residence condition; see the page on returning to France and the guide to retiring abroad.

According to the Court of Audit, no national taxation is levied in Wallis and Futuna: the general tax code is not extended to the territory, taxation consists almost exclusively of indirect taxes and business licence taxes (patentes), and households have no local income return. For State pensions, the State pensions service indicates, for Wallis and Futuna, a withholding tax applied to income, with a reference to the scale published on impots.gouv.fr, whereas it indicates local taxation for Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. The tax convention, tax residence and the rules specific to these pensions are not detailed in the State pensions service page.

For a general-scheme or supplementary pension, the tax treatment depends on resident or non-resident status in the eyes of the French tax administration: a written request to the non-resident individuals’ tax office avoids errors. The territorial assembly has the power to create taxes and duties, and the Court of Audit raises as an option a contribution on high incomes (scale of 0 to 20%): no decision was found in the sources consulted, and this point deserves checking before settling.

A resident benefits from free care provided by the Health Agency, funded by the State: dispensary consultations, emergencies 24 hours a day, hospitalisation at Sia (42 beds) or Kaleveleve (9 beds) and medical evacuations prescribed by the Agency (several hundred a year, nearly 90% to New Caledonia). Provision is limited: seven hospital doctors and eight GPs, with specialities (cardiology, ophthalmology, rheumatology, gastroenterology, ENT, psychiatry) provided by temporary missions. Diabetes prevalence is close to 20% in the native population and the Court of Audit mentions 70% obesity. The page on the healthcare system of Wallis and Futuna details the organisation.

For stays in mainland France or elsewhere, no local body reimburses: the Assurance Maladie states that no bilateral agreement exists with the territory, and the State pensions service names no local health insurance body for this territory, unlike French Polynesia and New Caledonia. The ameli.fr page on retirement abroad makes reimbursement of care in France conditional, for a resident of a country without an agreement, on 15 years of contributions to French schemes since 1 July 2019; its application to the territory is not specified, hence the value of asking the fund. Supplementary insurance and an assistance and repatriation contract cover trips, as the State services advise; see also the guide to a retiree’s health insurance abroad and the page on healthcare reimbursement.

The currency is the Pacific franc, at a fixed parity with the euro (XPF 100,000 equals €838). Prices change from one year to the next, in particular those of food and of hotels, cafés and restaurants (indices of the territorial statistics service). 89.0% of residents are owners, but land falls under customary law and is inalienable and non-transferable according to the IGAS (the French social affairs inspectorate): a retiree coming from outside is housed mainly by renting, with rents not published by the sources consulted. Territorial aid for water and electricity concerns Wallis subscribers subject to income conditions.

No accommodation facility for older people is described by the sources consulted; the Court of Audit cites projects for a long-term care unit and home hospitalisation among the Health Agency’s needs. With nearly a fifth of people aged 60 or over, ageing shapes local priorities.

Wallis (Uvea) has 8,088 inhabitants (72.5% of the population), Sia hospital in Mata’Utu, three dispensaries and the only international airport, Hihifo: it is the simplest choice for a retiree. Futuna (3,063 inhabitants, the districts of Alo and Sigave) has a 9-bed hospital with no surgery and a dispensary; the island is reached from Wallis by an air rotation six days a week, subject to favourable weather conditions.

Life is organised around the community and the customary authorities. The climate is tropical: dengue and leptospirosis circulate regularly. A stay of a few weeks before committing makes it possible to assess the remoteness, the weather and the care provision.