🏡 What are the conditions to receive CAF housing aid?

When you arrive in France, rent can quickly become your biggest expense. CAF housing aid can reduce it, but not every student is eligible. Here are the conditions, simply explained.

1. Your nationality and situation

Important: new rules since 1 July 2026. If you are a national of a country outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, and you are in France on a visa or residence permit for studies, you can receive CAF housing aid (APL, ALS or ALF) only if at least one of these applies to you:

you receive a higher-education grant based on social criteria (bourse sur critères sociaux), for example from the CROUS;
you work, as an employee or self-employed;
you are on an apprenticeship or professional-training contract.

Refugee and stateless students, and spouses of non-EU students, also remain eligible. EU, EEA and Swiss students are not affected by this change. Read the full conditions

A non-EU student can usually get a means-tested CROUS grant only after living in France for at least two years with a tax household in France, so this exception rarely applies to students who have just arrived. Other scholarships (for example a French government grant or a scholarship from your home country) are not mentioned in the official rules; check with the CAF before counting on aid.

2. You are legally resident in France

Non-EU students: a valid residence permit, or a long-stay student visa (VLS-TS) that you have validated online.
EU, EEA and Swiss students: your passport or identity card, plus proof of enrolment, proof of health insurance (for example your European Health Insurance Card) and a signed declaration that you have sufficient resources.

3. You rent the accommodation in your name

You must be the tenant or a co-tenant named on the lease, or a declared sub-tenant under 30. You cannot receive aid if the landlord is your parent, grandparent or another direct ascendant.

4. It is your main home and you pay rent

You must actually live there (at least 8 months a year) and pay rent. If you are hosted for free, you are not eligible.

5. The accommodation is decent

It must meet French decency standards, including a minimum living area of 9 m².

6. Your resources

Aid is means-tested. If you are a student under 28 on 1 September, your earnings from work are not taken into account; the CAF uses a flat-rate amount instead.

💡 Good to know

The amount depends on your rent, the location, your resources and whether you live alone. Use the CAF simulator for an estimate.
It starts the month after you apply. Apply as soon as you move in: if you move in on 15 October, your rights open in November and the first payment arrives around 5 December.
It is not backdated to months before your application.
Processing takes about 36 days on average once your file is complete.
Sharing a flat with someone who is not eligible? Your aid is calculated as if you lived alone.

If you are eligible, our team can help you with your application. We can't guarantee that the CAF will grant you aid.

Ready? Apply on the CAF website.