French residency card system 'dysfunctional' says immigration lawyer

The inefficiencies in France’s systems for applying for residency cards both online and at prefectures has been criticised by a specialist in immigration law.

Charly Salkazanov, an avocat at the Val-de-Marne (Ile-de-France) bar, said understaffing and the drive to move procedures online is leading to people lacking valid cards.

He said it is causing unwarranted demands to leave France (obligation de quitter le territoire français– OQTF) being issued, many of which are later cancelled by a judge.

Read more: Suspect in murder of Lola, 12: What is a OQTF order to leave France?

He considers Ile-de-France the worst affected in terms of difficulty obtaining prefecture appointments, saying it is “basically impossible”.

He said Val-de-Marne prefecture was “doubtless one of the worst”, in part due to its failure to respond to registered post letters or emails.

'Confusion' over residency card application

The problem of cutting costs by putting more procedures online results in fewer appointments and more widespread “dysfunction and confusion”, he added.

Mr Salkazanov said: “There are very long delays to get a card and even to get the proof [récépissé] that you have applied.

“It has become a huge part of our job to help people with procedures before the prefecture, then before the administrative judge if the delay is too long, or in the case of refusal.

“I spend a lot of my time explaining to people what I could do to help, how the procedure works, and the documents I need.

“It’s my job, but a lawyer is not mandatory to get a card or a visa for work or family reasons. 

“If people need lawyers more and more, it is because the procedures are more complex so they can’t do it themselves.”

Anti-immigration rhetoric

Mr Salkazanov also spoke of an “atmosphere where it is becoming accepted to be against immigrants”.

“Without immigrants, the situation of the country would be much more difficult,” he said.

“We often hear about how immigrants are a cost. In fact, it is almost neutral [in terms of taxes and social charges paid, compared to state expenditure]. It is a fake idea that immigrants cost France a lot. 

Also, many jobs are done by immigrants in sectors such as restaurants and construction that are not carried out by the French.

“It’s false that immigrants come only for social aid. A lot who need aid do not even ask, as they don’t know their rights.

“Our leaders must not put oil on the fire, saying things like ‘we will make sure more OQTFs are executed’. 

It would be good to take time to think about procedures that will allow people to defend their rights and allow better decisions.

“It’s not good that a lot of decisions are systematically contested before courts. It’s not a judge’s job to study 10, 20, 30 OQTFs a day. 

We need more staff in prefectures to explain the procedure and give people the chance to defend their rights.”

Mr Salkazanov was speaking at an online meeting organised by the Anglo-American Press Association of Paris. The Connexion later interviewed him directly.

He reports that problems include:

• When people apply for a residency card, they sometimes do not receive an answer for up to 10 months, leading to difficulties with proving legal residency and with jobs.  Sometimes, the date comes around when they should be renewing a card, but they have not yet received the original card.
• If you apply at a prefecture, you receive a récépissé valid only a few months. To get it, one must obtain a prefecture appointment, which can be difficult, and to extend it requires another.  “In the Paris area, prefectures are overbooked. A part of my job is sometimes to undertake procedures to force them to give an appointment to my client. We have to file a request before the judge.”
• Depending on the card, some applications can be made online, but it can be “very slow” to receive a response. 
• It is also difficult for those who are unfamiliar with IT or have poor French. In the past, it was easier, he said – you got an appointment at the prefecture, and made your case. “Now it is just online, so you file your case, and maybe six months, eight months, sometimes more, you get an answer,” he said.
• If a refusal is sent to a personal space online or by email, it can be missed by the applicant, meaning losing part of the time to appeal – typically about two months in total – to contest it in front of a judge.
• OQTF – demands to leave, usually within 30 days – are made in an overly “brutal” way, because a person lacks a valid card, including for people who have “lived all their lives in France, who have children, a job, because the prefecture doesn’t take the time to study each case”.

Read more: French visas and residency card applications: Connexion readers share their experiences

Are orders to leave France fair?

“Let’s rather take a moment to interview people before taking the decision and not have this debate before the judge,” Mr Salkazanov said. 

France issues many OQTFs but many are cancelled by courts, leading to the impression that few are enforced.

“The interior minister said he wanted to increase the number of OQTFs executed, but it’s a fake debate.

“The real issue is the number that are justified – for example, if the person is a danger to public safety and has no reason to remain. It’s only a few. Most are taken against people with a life in France, who have been here a number of years.”

Read more: What changes are proposed in the planned new French immigration law?

Prime Minister François Bayrou called last month for more ‘debate’ on what it means to be French, and said this could include re-examining the droit du sol: the rule by which children born to foreign couples in France gain automatic French citizenship if they are living here at age 18.

Read more: Tax, retirees, work, immigration… key points from French PM’s latest interview

A proposal to remove this, so they must apply to be French, was taken out of last year’s immigration law by the Conseil constitutionnel, but remains a goal of the Right and far-Right. 

The then-interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, also said in a BFMTV interview that “to be French should not be automatic” and “one should assimilate”.

He said “the law should be changed, so we can only marry people who are French or who are legally-resident foreigners”.

Who are France’s ‘immigrants’? 

France distinguishes between two overlapping categories:

Etrangers (foreigners) are those without French nationality living in France, including 800,000 people born in France in foreign families.

Les immigrés (immigrants) were born abroad without French nationality and have since moved to France, including 2.5 million people who have since become French.

State statistics body Insee, using 2023 figures, reports that there are 7.3 million immigrants, who make up 10.7% of the overall population of France and 5.6 million ‘foreigners’, about 8.2%.

In 2023, half of immigrants (47.7%) were born in Africa.

Seven countries represented almost half: Algeria (12.2%), Morocco (11.7%), Portugal (7.9%) Tunisia (4.8%), Italy (3.9%), Turkey (3.3%) and Spain (3.2%).

Among other immigrants, 32.3% were born in Europe, including two per cent of immigrants who were born in the UK, 13.7% in Asia, including 1.6% from China, and less than 6.3% in the Americans or Oceania, including 0.6% from the US.