Break in Residence Rights during Renewal: A Growing Issue

The break in residence rights during the renewal of residence permits has, since 2024 with the implementation of the ANEF platform, become a new type of litigation in its own right before the Administrative Court. The number of appeals filed by foreign nationals whose right of residence has been interrupted has clearly skyrocketed. Before looking at the possible solutions, it is necessary to first identify where the problem lies.

There are two situations that result in a break in residence rights during renewal, but the issue arises differently.

On one hand, there are people who submit their renewal application through the ANEF platform. They submit their application on time but do not receive any temporary document (certificate of extension of processing) when their residence permit expires. They generally wait several months before taking action. This situation is due to an instruction given to prefecture services: they must only issue the temporary document after verifying that the file is complete. The problem? The delay in verifying the completeness of the file, which leads to the failure to issue the temporary document.

On the other hand, there are people who are not subject to the ANEF system and who must request an appointment to submit their renewal application. Either their permit expires and they still have not received an appointment, or they have already submitted the application and obtained an initial receipt. They then request a renewal of this receipt on time, but the prefecture is late in processing the requests, leaving them without a valid document for several weeks.

Is this type of break in residence rights during renewal legal?

Absolutely not — in fact, it is a very serious matter.

The consequences for foreign nationals are generally dramatic in terms of employment: loss of the opportunity to sign a work contract, suspension of an existing contract, dismissal, etc. Does the administration care? Of course not.

In this situation, the worst thing to do is nothing, just waiting. Be aware that nothing will happen, and the administration will not treat you any better for it. Another common mistake is sending messages to the administration, either via ANEF or directly to the prefecture. An even worse option is to go directly to the prefecture, where you will obviously not be received.

So what should be done? First and foremost, it is necessary to consult a lawyer, who can verify that the renewal application has indeed been properly filed. If so, it will then be necessary to consider filing appeals before the Administrative Court. These may vary depending on how much time has passed since the application was submitted.

Very often, the people we meet tell us that they wanted to wait for a response from the administration, or that they did not want to take direct legal action against it.

The major problem is that the courts, once seized, do not see things this way. Indeed, a court will ask the following question: “How could a person whose residence rights have lapsed during renewal wait so long before acting, when this is such a serious situation with many consequences?” For the foreign national, doing nothing may seem like the best option, thinking that otherwise the prefecture will refuse the renewal.
This is impossible, as a renewal can only be refused on the legal grounds of the specific residence permit requested.

In case of a break in residence rights during renewal, one must absolutely not “wait and see,” but on the contrary be proactive and initiate legal action as soon as possible.