This is the country where you habitually live, your home country. In other words, where your centre of interest is. A list of criteria is provided by article 11 of the Implementing Regulation 987/2009 to help social security institutions assess which country is to be considered as the place of residence.

These include: the duration of your presence on the territory of the countries concerned; your family status and ties; your housing situation and how permanent it is; the place where you pursue professional or non-profit activities; the characteristics of your professional activity; where you reside for taxation purposes; in the case of students, the source of your income. In any case, the decision on which country is to be considered your place of residence will be made by the social security institutions and not by you.

A temporary stay is a period during which you are staying in a place other than the one where you usually live and you do not move your "centre of interest" there. The centre of interest is assessed by the social security institutions in order to determine your place of residence (see the definition of residence above). For the purpose of social security coordination, a temporary stay is not limited to a defined period of time but attached to the idea of residence.

For example, the fact that a student who is studying in another country for more than three months registers with the local authorities cannot be considered as a change of residence: if the intention of the student is to return to his/her habitual residence after the study period, he/she is considered to be on a temporary stay and therefore can use a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC).

Activity as an employed or a self-employed person means any activity or equivalent situation treated as such for the purposes of the social security legislation of the EU country, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland in which such activity or equivalent situation exists (Art. 1 Regulation 883/2004).

A cross-border worker is a person who works in one EU country, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland and lives in another one of these countries to which he returns as a rule daily, or at least once a week.

Under the EU social security coordination rules, an insured person is a person satisfying the conditions required in a EU country, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland to have the right to social security benefits.

A family member is any person defined or recognised as such by the legislation of the EU country, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland under which the benefits are provided. >> Use our directory to find a contact institution

Under the EU social security coordination rules, stateless person has the same meaning as assigned to it in Article 1 of the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless persons, signed in New York on 28 September 1954.

Under the EU social security coordination rules, refugee has the same meaning as assigned to it in Article 1 of the Convention of the Status of Refugees, signed at Geneva on 28 July 1951