Need Help: University Refund Issue in France

Visa Requirements
1

Hello everyone,

I am a student from Sri Lanka. I was accepted by Aura International School of Management in Lyon and paid my tuition fees. Unfortunately, my French student visa was refused in December 2025.

I submitted my refund request in February 2026. According to the university’s refund policy, refunds should be processed within 90 French working days. That deadline has now passed, but I still have not received my refund.

The university continues to delay the payment and gives us new promises instead of a clear refund date.

This is not just my case. Around 30 Sri Lankan students are facing the same problem and are still waiting for their refunds after their visa refusals.

Has anyone had a similar experience with this university? Can anyone recommend the correct French government authority, consumer protection agency, lawyer, or organization where we can file an official complaint and recover our money?

Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Student Visa Refused – Still Waiting Months for My Tuition Fee Re
2

Sorry to hear of your troubles but I don’t think there will be many with enough knowledge of the French University system to help you on Survive France.

3

Don’t know of this particular establishment but if they are kosher then you need to apply to the Academie and/or the Rectorat who oversee education in France. Otherwise go to the Department des Repression des Fraudes, most likely an office in Lyon with all your paperwork which must be in French. Just seen that this is a private school so rules may be different to state establishments and departments for education

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4

Hi,

Sorry to read about your difficulties, I’m a retired university professor who knows about assessing international tertiary institutions, and a quick check online reveals that Aura is a recent private college that is not part of nor affiliated to any university and consequently its academic ranking is low.

It seems to be part of a franchised chain of private colleges operating across several countries with recruitment aimed at foreign/non-EU students. Their website is suspiciously short of detailed information and many of the links don’t work. It does not appear to be a reputable institution and this may be why your visa was refused.

I think you will need to follow the advice in the previous posting. keep trying with the college’s admin, but also follow the advice above re the Department des Repression des Fraudes.

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5

Hi,
Sorry to hear of the problems you are having.
You have received good advice from the previous posters. I just wanted to add, given that you say that there are many other Sri Lankan students in a similar position, have you thought of involving the Sri Lankan Embassy (https://www.srilankaembassy.fr/)
Who may be able to help/ apply pressure to ensure you get your fees refunded.
Best wishes.

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6

Thank You!

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Same issue This university is a Fraud - My visa was refused in Feb 9 and return time was 60 working days which ended in May since then they are giving new deadlines on each deadline. The management is full of Indians no french i dont know whom to contact.

So you suggesting I contact Department des Repression des Fraudes. ? Can we file a compliant against this School?

Aura school of management
9

Hi,

I’m happy to share that one student has finally been informed that they will receive their refund. I hope this is a positive sign and that all other students who are still waiting will receive their refunds soon.

If you are facing the same refund issue with Aura, please don’t stay silent. I encourage you to file a complaint with the French Embassy in your country and the DGCCRF (France’s consumer protection authority).

I have already submitted complaints to both authorities because my refund has been delayed far beyond the 90 working days stated in Aura’s refund policy.

If more affected students report this issue, it may help the French authorities better understand the situation and investigate the matter.

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@Tharani_Kavindya @billybutcher
Hello everyone,

Please HELP MEE!

I’m from Nepal, and I’m looking for some advice regarding a tuition fee refund from Aura International school of business…..that has been delayed for past 8 months.

My student visa was refused, so I completed the refund process and submitted all the required documents to my institution. Since then, I have been waiting for my tuition fee to be refunded.

The issue is that I have received several different timelines over the past few months. First, I was told the refund would be completed within the normal processing period. Later, I was told it would be completed by the second week of April. After that, the timeline changed to the third week of May.

Finally, on 07 May, I received an official email stating that the remaining refunds would be processed in stages starting from 24 May and that all remaining refunds would be completed before 12 July.

Today is 22 July, and I still have not received my refund.

I have sent multiple follow-up emails asking for an update, but I have not received any response to my recent emails. At this point, I don’t even know the current status of my refund or when I can realistically expect it.

This has become a very difficult situation for my family. My parents worked very hard to arrange my tuition fee, and the refund is important for us financially. The long delay has created financial pressure, and the uncertainty has caused a lot of stress for both my family and me.

I understand that international bank transfers and refund processes can sometimes take longer than expected. However, what concerns me most is the lack of communication after the promised deadline has already passed.

Has anyone else experienced something similar with an international college or university?

How long did your refund take?

What steps did you take when the institution stopped responding?

Should I continue emailing them, or is there another formal process I should follow?

I am not trying to create problems for the institution. I simply want the refund that was promised and a clear update about my case.

Any advice or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated.

11

Think you need to find another place on the internet for help. This is a site for mostly English/Irish “older” mostly retired people who live or have holiday homes in France, not students at the aforementioned institution so our knowledge of it is very limited. As mentioned previously, contact the relevant French authorities who deal with fraud as this is not a state owned/controlled college. Good luck but do not expect much help on SF for reasons already mentioned. Maybe try Facebook etc

12

Yes it’s not that we don’t want to help you, and I’m sure everyone here sympathises very much with your situation, it’s just that we don’t have the expertise to help you unfortunately.

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If you look higher up this thread, you’ll see what other people in your situation have tried.

There seem to be quite a few Facebook groups for overseas students in France, including Nepali ones.

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The DGCCRE - what do we report there ? how?

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This is what Tharani said a few days ago. They don’t seem to be replying to posts at the moment.

‘If you are facing the same refund issue with Aura, please don’t stay silent. I encourage you to file a complaint with the French Embassy in your country and the DGCCRF (France’s consumer protection authority).’

This seems to be where you report problems, although I’ve never used it. Presumably you speak French as you’ve applied to study here, but you can use Google to translate.

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I have used the Repression des Fraudes twice previously. One time was to get Orange off my son’s back as he had closed his account with them and gone with SFR, returning all equipment and officially shutting the account but they refused to accept it was shut, took hundreds of euros from his account which being a student he did not have and then letters from huissiers kept arriving. The fraudes people made two phone calls in front of us and it was over! The other time was for another supplier who kept taking money and again, all sorted there on the spot. You must present all paperwork in French, that is the only language legally to be used and attend in person making an appointment beforehand.

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Hi I filed complaint against this low class school on DGCCRF - how much time they will take to respond? i have been waiting for my refund for past 7 months now -

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Was the link I posted any help to you?

19

Not only a French problem it seems. I’d go legal if I was you. I’m sure there’s a French government department that will follow up on your behalf.

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There’s a lot of it about in Western Europe and unfortunately students assume that if the institution is in a Western country whose universities have a reasonable international reputation, then any educational business (because that’s what they are) in these countries is OK and will add a useful qualification to a CV. Unfortunately this is often not the case and my advice would be to first look at genuine universities closer to home and perhaps ones with degrees that are franchised by Western
European universities with Quality Control standards.

Another option is online study from overseas with an institution like the UK’s Open University, which would be much less expensive and the OU is perhaps the most experienced distance learning university in the world. I’m making this recommendation on the basis having previously taught there for many years and having been continually impressed by former colleagues’ commitment and dedication.

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Hey I am sorry what link? can you send it again? I didnt get it i believe

Thanks x