Residency card applications can be refused ‘tacitly’

I have heard that after a certain period of time ‘no news’ from the prefecture services can become a tacit refusal of a card application or renewal. Is that true?

It is true that there are certain time periods after which silence from the authorities can, legally-speaking, be equal to refusal. For this reason, people who have applied for a card/renewal of a card should be wary and avoid accepting this passively, a lawyer for the Val-de-Marne bar, Charly Salkazanov, told The Connexion.

If you meet the legal requirements for your visa/card you are unlikely to be forced to leave France, but it is best to avoid periods without valid residency documentation, which can potentially cause complications in daily life.

Assuming you applied in the correct requested timeframe and you have had paperwork indicating that processing is under way, there is no immediate need for concern.

Note that rules for card applications to prefectures typically ask that they are submitted dans les deux mois précédant l’expiration de votre carte de séjour – “in the two months preceding the expiry of your residency card. This should be read as “no later than” two months before and it is preferable not to leave it this late.

If processing and communication work effectively, all should then be well. However, issues do sometimes arise if this is not the case, which is when the ‘implied’ (tacit) refusal issue can be relevant.

Under French immigration law, a lack of response by officials to a card application after four months is deemed to be a tacit refusal. Applicants then, according to the letter of the law, have two months to appeal. Doing nothing can, therefore, potentially put your legal residency at risk, some lawyers warn.

If you are concerned that you risk falling foul of these rules, in the first instance ask for updates from your prefecture as to progress, by whatever means are available (via the Anef website’s Contact section if you applied on this site and/or your prefecture – see its website for how to contact it online or in person).

Note, also, that certain immigration statuses confer strong residency protections, such as holding a permanent stay Brexit WA card, and such cardholders should not be forced to leave France without serious justification such as that the person is deemed to pose a threat (for example, due to terrorist links).

If the four months period has elapsed with no news, appeals to the prefect of your department and/or Interior Minister are possible via registered post with receipt slip. You can ask that they re-examine your dossier, explaining to them any elements that may not have been taken into account. 

If you do not receive a response to this within two months, this is also legally equivalent to implicit rejection, and the remaining avenue is the administrative court (a further two months for this runs from the refusal by the prefecture/ministry). It is also possible to appeal directly to the court after four months without passing via the methods above.

The official ‘tacit refusal’ period of four months applies to most kinds of card, with a few exceptions such as 90 days in the case of a passeport talent ‘carte bleue européenne’, multi-year posted-worker or stagiaire ‘ICT’ cards, seasonal worker cards, European student mobility programme cards and cards for jobseekers or those setting up businesses; and 60 days for ‘researcher’ passeport talent cards.

Court appeals should be made to the local administrative court. It is possible to do it for free and without a lawyer if you wish. See the site of the court for further information on appeals, which can be lodged by letter or at telerecours.fr.

However, there is a further issue. Depending on how you applied originally (via registered post with reception slip, in person or online, depending on card type and prefecture preferences) a card has only been legally ‘refused’ if the prefecture accepted the application as ‘complete’ (eg. all necessary information and supporting documents were supplied) and thus has processed the dossier and taken a decision on the facts.

If it failed to issue a card simply because the dossier was ‘incomplete’, there is no appeal process as there is no ‘refusal’. In this case, you would have to apply again from scratch.

Sometimes the prefecture will notify of a problem with the dossier, and, for example, ask for extra documents, but sometimes, reportedly, officials shelve the file. If, however, you received a récépissé, or attestation de prolongation d’instruction, these are proofs of having submitted a ‘complete’ dossier.

Such problems are more likely in urban areas with high immigration and Mr Salkazanov considers his area, south-east of Paris, among the worst. He said officials there often do not notify the fact a dossier is incomplete or that elements are missing.

He advises, before the initial four months are up, writing, if necessary, to the prefecture to ask if the dossier is ‘complete’ and if they need any more elements (either via registered post, or online).

Then, after the four months are up, he said he writes to the prefecture on behalf of a client, to ask the reasons (la motivation) for the implicit rejection. “They should reply within a month, but often, they don’t. But then, when I go to court, that allows me to argue that the prefecture refused for no reason. But you can only do that if you’ve followed this step. Often, members of the public just leave it and after six months, you are out of time to act.”