Overview of the main changes since the previous report update

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The previous update of the report was published in May 2024.

International protection

• Key asylum statistics: in 2024, according to the Ministry of Interior 157,947 people registered asylum applications in France, including 130,952 first-time applicants and 26,995 subsequent applicants, a slight decrease from 167,432 in 2023. According to the Ministry of Interior, the main countries of origin of people registered in GUDA in 2024 were Ukraine, followed by Afghanistan, Haiti, DRC, Guinea, and Ivory Coast. OFPRA, the authority before which applications are lodged (thus, inter alia, excluding applicants channelled into Dublin procedures and including those rechannelled from Dublin procedures started in 2024 or in previous years) reported 153,600 applications lodged in 2024, a slight increase from 142,500 in 2023. OFPRA indicated that the overall protection rate at first instance stood at 38.8% in 2024, a 6-point increase from 2023. The average first-instance processing time for all procedures at OFPRA was 138 days, compared to 126 days in 2023. The average processing time for the CNDA was 5 months and 9 days (6 months and 3 days in 2023). At the end of 2024, 20,156 asylum seekers were in a Dublin procedure and during 2024 8,846 were re-channelled from a Dublin procedure to a regular or accelerated procedure (see Statistics).
• State of implementation of the 2024 legislative reform: In January 2024, a law ‘for controlled immigration and successful integration’ was promulgated, with many changes to the asylum framework (for a detailed list see Country Report: France – Update on the year 2023) set to enter into force at various points throughout the year. In practice, while some provisions had a noticeable impact in 2024, others have yet to be implemented or have had little impact in practice.

Asylum procedure

• Access to the territory: in 2024, Eurostat statistics reported 10,235 (estimation) third country nationals refused entry at France’s external borders, including 1,295 at land borders, 1,145 at sea borders, and 7,800 at air borders. Internal border controls have been renewed since 2015, including in 2024 and early 2025 with internal border controls covering all land, sea and air internal borders. In February 2024, following the 2023 CJEU decision, the Council of State cancelled the article of law which allowed refusals of entry to be issued in all circumstances and without any distinction in the context of the reestablishment of internal border controls (see Access to the territory). The situation at the borders was as follows:
  • UK border: According to the UK authorities, attempts to cross the Channel to join the United Kingdom reached 36,816 in 2024, a 25% increase compared to 2023. 78% of those arriving during the first three quarts of 2024 came from only 8 countries, notably Afghanistan, Iran, Syria and Vietnam. According to French authorities, 45,203 persons were detected trying to cross the Channel in 2024, also an increase from 2023; 6,310 persons were rescued at sea, while at least 82 people died at sea trying to join the UK, compared to 12 in 2023.

  • Italian border: Reports of people being refused entry at the Italian border without their protection needs being taken into account persisted in 2024. In April 2024 the Ombudsperson published a decision regarding respect for the rights of people stopped and questioned at the French-Italian internal border by French security forces, in the Hautes-Alpes and Alpes-Maritimes departments, revealing serious and massive violations of the rights of asylum seekers who are stopped there: people redirected to Italy after expressing their wish to apply for asylum, lack of information provision on the right to asylum including during arrest and refusal of entry, systematic refusal of the authorities to pass on any asylum applications that may be made at the border, deprivation of liberty outside of any legal framework and in undignified conditions, etc. While comprehensive numbers are not available, authorities recorded 15,000 arrests of people trying to enter France irregularly in 2024 at the south border in Alpes Maritimes, a 64% decrease from 2023. At the north part of the border (Montgenevre, Hautes Alpes), the Council of State decision seemed to have the effect of limiting returns to Italy during the first three quarters of 2024, but NGOs noted a significant hardening from November 2024 onwards, with ‘a very sharp increase in readmissions to Italy of exiled people, many of whom wanted to seek asylum in France’.

  • Spanish border: In 2024, almost 15,000 arrests were recorded at the Spanish border. Illegal returns to Spain still seem to be practiced in 2024 according to observations in the field.

• Resettlement and humanitarian corridors: In 2024, 2,212 persons were resettled according to the UNHCR database, compared to 3,003 in 2023 and 3,164 in 2022, mainly from Türkiye, Chad, and Jordan and the majority being Syrian nationals. The Ministry of Interior indicated 2,371 resettlements in 2024. The humanitarian corridor protocol signed between the French authorities and religious organisations in 2017 and renewed in April 2021 enabled the admission of 161 Syrians, including 72 children, as of October 2024 (since April 2021) (see Legal access to the territory.
• Registration of the asylum application: As of April 2025, the regulations governing the pilot sites for the new Pôles France Asile have yet to be published, so this legislative amendment did not have any practical impact in 2024. While overall the deadline of 3 days between the making of the application and the appointment to register the application before the GUDA was respected (2.2 days during the first 8 months of 2024), the situation was extremely complicated in at least three territories: waiting times reached approx. 2 months in Isère (mainland France) at the end of 2024, while they were over 18 months in French Guiana in 2024, and in Mayotte the relevant office of the Prefecture has been closed since October 2024 (see Registration of the asylum application).
• Reform of the National Court of Asylum (CNDA) following the 2024 law: The law adopted on 26 January 2024 reorganised the CNDA, dividing it into 23 chambers including 4 new territorial chambers (in Lyon, Bordeaux, Nancy and Toulouse) and 18 chambers at the seat of the Court, in Montreuil. Since 1 September 2024, applicants whose registered address is in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Grand-Est and Occitanie have their appeals examined by one of these new territorial chambers. However, appeals of people from countries with complex geopolitical situations or who speak a rare language continue to be heard in Montreuil. Moreover, also following the 2024 legal reform, cases are on principle ruled upon by a single-judge for all types of procedure, unless, on their own initiative or at the request of the claimant, the President of the CNDA or the President of formation decides to refer the case to a 3-judge panel or to refer it back to the panel when a question justifying this is raised. In 2024, the CNDA took 32,096 decisions in panels of 3 judges, down from 34,807 in 2023. It also took 29,497 single-judge decisions (i.e., 48% of total decisions), with 9,761 decisions following a hearing and 19,736 by order (see Regular procedure – Appeal).
• Dublin statistics and reduced deadline to appeal: In 2024, French authorities placed 25,875 persons under a Dublin procedure, sent 31,964 outgoing requests and implemented 2,624 transfers, making for an 8.2% transfer rate. At the end of 2024, 20,156 of them were still in a Dublin procedure and 5,719 persons were re-channelled from a Dublin procedure to a regular or accelerated procedure (requalifiés) during the year (8,846 requalifés total in 2024, when including those re-channelled from a Dublin procedure registered before 2024). Asylum seekers placed under the Dublin procedure can introduce an appeal before the Administrative Court to challenge the transfer decision. The appeal has to be introduced within 7 days after the asylum seeker has been notified the decision (the 2024 legislative reform reduced this period from 15 to 7 days for all transfer decisions notified after 15 July 2024) (see Dublin procedure).
• Suspension of examination of applications by Syrian nationals: On 10 December 2024, OFPRA announced the suspension of the examination of asylum applications from Syrians due to the evolution of the geopolitical situation in the country and has not communicated on the follow-up given to this situation at the time of writing this report (April 2025). In the months that followed, however, the Office continued to grant protection to Syrians whose grounds for protection were not directly related to the country’s political situation (see Differential treatment of specific nationalities in the procedure).
• Non application of the relevant exclusion clause due to lack of protection available by UNWRA in the Gaza Strip: The CNDA recognised UNRWA’s inability to provide protection or assistance to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip due to the “war situation” since 7 October 2023, neutralising the exclusion clause of Article 1D Geneva Convention. This led the CNDA to rule in 2024 that applicants from the Gaza strip thus qualify for refugee status (see Differential treatment of specific nationalities in the procedure).

Reception conditions

• Asylum applicants benefiting from financial assistance: As of the end of December 2024, a total of 90,329 asylum seekers benefitted from the ADA (compared to 102,196 at the end of 2023). Problems regarding the ADA (allowance paid late, etc) continued to be reported in 2024 (see Access and forms of reception conditions).
• Legal link between leaving accommodation without justification and closure of asylum application established: The 2024 legislative reform established an unprecedented link between reception and the asylum procedure: a person who leaves their accommodation without legitimate reason, in addition to losing their reception conditions as foreseen before, will see their asylum application “closed” (clôturée) by OFPRA. While the provisions came into force on 28 January 2024, based on NGO observations in the field they were not implemented in practice in 2024 (see Reduction or withdrawal of reception conditions).
• Asylum applicants without any material reception conditions: When comparing the number of asylum applications pending at the end of 2024 according to Eurostat (147,950) and the number of asylum seekers benefitting from reception conditions at this date (90,329 persons in total at the end of December 2024 according to OFII), this means more than 50,000 asylum seekers do not have reception conditions in France (see Housing).
• Lack of reception capacity and asylum applicants without accessing to public housing: At the end of the year, the Ministry of Interior stated that 64% of asylum seekers eligible to material reception conditions – i.e., 90,329 persons in total at the end of December 2024 according to OFII – were effectively accommodated (compared to 59% at the end of 2023) i.e. 58,000 persons. If we add asylum seekers who do not benefit from reception conditions, we can consider that almost 90,000 asylum seekers were not accommodated in dedicated places in France as of the end of 2024 (according to Eurostat, 147,950 asylum applications were pending in France at the end of 2024) – a part of them (unknown) however did not express the need to be accommodated. 1,000 new places (500 in CADA and 500 in CAES) were to be opened for asylum seekers in 2024 in accordance with 2024 Budget Law, but it was announced during the year that they would not open due to budgetary constraints. In 2025, the Budget Law plans to cut the budget allocated to housing asylum seekers by 69 million euros, which would lead to the closure of several thousand places (see Types of accommodation).
• Dismantlement operations in informal camps: Due to the shortcomings in reception, People have no choice but to turn to squalid living conditions, including in informal camps, which are regularly dismantled by the authorities, with or without a planned accommodation solution. In Calais, regular dismantlement operations have been carried out since 2015. Nevertheless, hundreds of migrants were still living in makeshift camps in Calais area throughout 2024. At the end of 2024, media reported that about 1,000 migrants were in Calais and its surroundings. In parallel, a local NGO counted 5,847 evacuations in Calais and 2,129 in Grande-Synthe in 2024 (see Asylum seekers left without accommodation).
• Reception situation in Mayotte: In Mayotte, hundreds of asylum seekers and refugees had set up camp at the Cavani stadium in Mamoudzou. 308 refugees were evacuated on 25 February 2024 to be transferred to the mainland, with 410 people remaining there. A final evacuation operation in August 2024 resulted in the accommodation of the remaining 150 people. However, a cyclone hit the island on 14 December 2024, leaving many inhabitants, including asylum seekers and refugees, without shelter (see Asylum seekers left without accommodation).
• Ban on accommodating unaccompanied children in hotels: A new law on child protection was adopted on 25 January 2022. It prohibits, inter alia, the accommodation of children in hotels as of 2024. Until 2024, children could only be placed in hotels for a maximum of two months and under reinforced security measures (see Special reception needs of vulnerable groups).

Detention of asylum seekers

• Statistics: In 2024, 1,215 third-country nationals lodged a first asylum application while already in administrative detention. Moreover, some rejected asylum seekers asked for a subsequent examination of their asylum claim while being detained (no statistics available on subsequent applications in detention since 2020) (see Detention of asylum seekers – General).
• De facto detention: in the context of border controls in the area of Alpes-Maritimes throughout recent years and including in 2022 the Border Police has detained newly arrived asylum seekers without formal order in a “temporary detention zone” (zone de rétention provisoire) made up of prefabricated containers in the premises of the Menton Border Police and established following an informal decision of the Prefect of Alpes-Maritimes. Detention in undignified conditions, leading to several violations of fundamental rights, continued to be observed in 2024 (see Access at the Italian land border and Detention – General).
• New grounds for detention: Until 2024, asylum seekers were not placed in administrative detention centres for the purpose of the asylum procedure. Persons who claimed asylum during their administrative detention for the purpose of removal could only be maintained in detention (maintien en rétention) in limited situations. However, the 2024 legal reform now allows for the detention of asylum seekers presenting a threat to public order (at any time during the procedure) and the detention of asylum seekers expressing their wish to request asylum in another place than in the prefecture – for example during an arrest – and presenting a risk of absconding (2 cumulative conditions). The implementation of these provisions has been specified by a decree published in July 2024. In practice, this framework was only applied a dozen times in 2024 in mainland France, but it has become firmly established in the practice in Mayotte. Indeed, in Mayotte, access to the prefecture there has been impossible since autumn 2024, forcing asylum seekers to submit their applications to another stakeholder than the competent authority (the prefecture), resulting in their placement in detention. NGOs denounce that due to this, complex asylum applications, particularly from people from the Great Lakes region of Africa, are thus processed under the derogatory and degrading conditions of detention (see Grounds for detention).
• Extension of grounds for detention of asylum seekers under the Dublin procedure: The 2024 legislative reform extended the grounds for detention of asylum seekers under the Dublin procedure before the adoption of the transfer decision. Firstly, the ground based on concealment of information on identity now also concerns elements relating to the migratory route, family composition and prior asylum applications. Furthermore, an additional ground was created concerning the refusal to submit to fingerprinting and their voluntary alteration due to crossing or irregular presence in the territory. Moreover, the qualification of a “significant risk of absconding”, which allows the prefecture to detain an asylum seeker within the framework of the Dublin procedure even before a transfer is decided, can apply as soon as they appear before the prefecture for registration of a first asylum request. Despite previous ministerial instructions to the contrary, in 2024 many Prefectures continued to systematically impose house arrest as soon as asylum seekers were placed in the Dublin procedure (see Dublin: Procedure), without conducting an individualised assessment to establish whether an alternative to detention is required (see Detention under the Dublin Regulation).
• Prohibition of detention of all minors: detention of unaccompanied minors has been prohibited everywhere since 2023, and since February 2024 detention of all minors is now prohibited in mainland France, whether they are asylum applicants or not. The prohibition of detention of all minors will enter into force in Mayotte only in 2027. It should be noted that in previous years, almost all accompanied children detained in France were detained in Mayotte (see Detention of vulnerable applicants).

Content of international protection

• Continued lengthy waiting times to receive necessary documentation by OFPRA: BIPs are hindered in accessing their rights after being granted protection due to the impossibility to receive their birth certificates by OFPRA in a timely manner. Without these documents, prefectures refuse to deliver the residence permits and only provide certificates that a request for a residence permit has been lodged. This in turn creates difficulties in accessing other rights (housing, employment, bank account, social welfare, etc). It remained one of the main obstacles to integration in 2024. In 2024, the average time for OFPRA to establish documents was 10.5 months, a decrease after years of increases (14.5 in 2023, 10.3 months in 2022, 8 months in 2021). In January 2025, the Conseil d‘Etat rejected a request for measures to ensure that civil status certificates are issued more quickly, as it took into account the efforts made by OFPRA and the fact that BIPs can – in law – receive temporary documents in the meantime to access their rights. NGOs highlight that this does not work in practice, due to delays in receiving these substitute documents and misapplication of the law by relevant stakeholders who do not hold them as valid to open rights (see Residence permit).
• Scope of global integration programme ‘AGIR’ restricted: In 2022, the government introduced a new global programme, named AGIR, aimed at providing global support for refugee integration concerning housing. Following delays, it is supposed to be generalised to the entire national territory early 2025. However, due to budget restrictions, the AGIR program has seen its scope restricted. While it was intended to support all refugees in a given department, a maximum number of people supported has been set for each department, and prioritisation criteria have been established for the year 2025, based on the concept of vulnerability that is, however, different from its definition in the context of an asylum application (see Housing).

Temporary protection

The information given hereafter constitute a short summary of the 2024 Annex on Temporary Protection, for further information, see Annex on Temporary Protection.

• Key temporary protection statistics: According to Eurostat, in December 2024, 58,530 beneficiaries of temporary protection were registered by French authorities (compared to 64,930at the end of 2023), but this figure excludes children. 12,035 decisions granting temporary protection were issued in 2024. According to UNHCR, 70,115 beneficiaries of temporary protection were recorded in France at the end of February 2025. In its 2024 preliminary statistics, the Government mentions 56,314 active temporary protection residence permits held by Ukrainians at the end of 2024 (compared to 62,438 at the end of 2023). In these preliminary statistics, the Government notes that the number of active temporary protection residence permits steadily decreased throughout 2024, and in parallel highlights that Ukrainians were the first country of origin of international protection applicants in France in 2024. 

Content of temporary protection

• Discontinuation of French language training: in April 2024, the French language training was discontinued due to budget cuts and will not be reconducted in 2025. This is despite concerns in parliamentary reports about the reported “weak mastery of the French language” by refugees from Ukraine.
• Increased interest in international protection status by Ukrainians: in 2024, the number of Ukrainian asylum applicants was 4 times higher than in 2023. 11,800 first asylum applications were made by Ukrainian nationals, making it the second nationality lodging applications for international protection before OFPRA (and, according to the Ministry of Interior, Ukrainians were the first country of origin of applicants registering international protection claims before the GUDA with 13,608 applications registered, both first time and subsequent applications). According to the government’s preliminary statistics, 6,923 Ukrainian nationals were granted international protection in 2024, compared to 2,350 in 2023. The National Court of Asylum (CNDA) highlighted an overall decrease in appeals due to increased protection by the OFPRA, notably increased protection of Ukrainian applicants following the CNDA’s 2023 protection jurisprudence on Ukraine.
• Government guidelines issued to encourage transition of BTPs towards other statuses: in December 2024 the Prime Minister issued guidelines highlighting the need to ‘begin the transition towards the regular law framework’, as opposed to temporary protection. One of the three pillars of this transition was ‘speeding up access to residence permits for the most integrated BTPs’, whereby the Prime Minister asked Prefectures to implement in depth examinations of all TPD renewal applications, in order to, whenever possible under the current law and conditions, redirect applications towards more permanent residence permits which would ‘promote their professional and social integration’, and only renew the temporary protection residence permit (which is only valid 6 months) if no other residence permit could be issued.