Residence permit

France

Country Report: Residence permit Last updated: 11/05/23

Author

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Residence permits are granted to refugees for 10 years (Carte de resident).[1] The same permit is also granted ipso jure to their family, in particular to:

  • Spouses, legal partners (PACS) or de facto partners (concubinage) if they arrived with them or at least before registration of the asylum claim and if they are of the same nationality (they actually benefit from the same protection status as their family member, through the principle of family unity);
  • Spouses, legal partners (PACS) or de facto partners (concubinage) if they have been admitted to join them under the family reunification procedure;
  • Spouses, legal partners (PACS) or de facto partners (concubinage) where their union was sealed after the asylum application, under the condition it has been lasting for at least 1 year, and if they are genuinely living together;
  • Children up to their 19th birthday regardless of the conditions of arrival;
  • For minor refugees: their parents and underaged brothers and sisters. The date retained to determine if the refugee is or was a minor for this purpose is the date of the lodging of the claim.

Since 1 March 2019, residence permits delivered to subsidiary protection beneficiaries are granted for four years (Carte de séjour pluriannuelle).[2] The same residence permits are granted to their family according to the same rules as for refugees.[3]

Refugees may encounter difficulties to get their residence permits issued or renewed.[4] Their residence permits have to be issued within the next 3 months following their request for such documentation. The same goes for the subsidiary protection beneficiaries.[5] However, OFPRA may take longer than expected to deliver the necessary documentation that has to be submitted for the issuance of their permits, namely the OFPRA birth certificates. Without them, prefectures refuse to deliver the residence permits and only provide certificates that a request for a residence permit has been lodged (récepissé).

According to provisional Ministry of Interior statistics, France granted 26,515 residence permits to refugees and stateless persons and 10,635 to subsidiary protection beneficiaries in 2022 (compared to 23,481 and 12,811 respectively in 2021).[6]

 

 

 

[1] Article L. 424-3 Ceseda.

[2] Article L. 424-9 Ceseda, inserted by Article 1 Law n. 2018-778 of 10 September 2018.

[3] Ibid.

[4] See e.g. La Cimade, ‘De longues files d’attentes virtuelles pour accéder aux préfectures’, 19 December 2017, available in French at: http://bit.ly/2BVdrZe, although these have not been encountered by Forum réfugiés – Cosi in the areas where it operates.

[5] Article R. 424-7 Ceseda.

[6] Ministry of Interior, Chiffres cléstitres de séjour, 26 January 2023, available in French at: https://bit.ly/3nQ7SbP.

Table of contents

  • Statistics
  • Overview of the legal framework
  • Overview of the main changes since the previous report update
  • Asylum Procedure
  • Reception Conditions
  • Detention of Asylum Seekers
  • Content of International Protection
  • ANNEX I – Transposition of the CEAS in national legislation