Seeking Advice - Préfecture

Legal Advice
1

Hello Everyone ,

I am writing to seek guidance regarding a prolonged delay in the processing of a residence card application for my spouse under EU free movement law in France.

I am a Portuguese national currently residing and working in Massy, France. My wife, is an Indian national who entered France legally on 25 September 2025 with a short-stay (Type C) Schengen visa as my spouse.

On 8 October 2025, we submitted her application for a residence card as a “family member of a Union citizen” (carte de séjour – membre de famille d’un citoyen de l’Union européenne) with the Préfecture of Essonne (Palaiseau). Upon submission, we received only an initial PDF confirmation of the application via the ANEF system.

Since that date, we have not received any further communication from the prefecture. Specifically:

  • No request for additional documents
  • No attestation de prolongation d’instruction
  • No récépissé or temporary proof of legal stay
  • No update on the status of the application

Her short-stay visa expired on 11 January 2026. However, based on Directive 2004/38/EC, we understand that her right of residence is derived from her status as the spouse of an EU citizen exercising treaty rights in France, and from having submitted the application within the required timeframe.

Despite this, the absence of any official document confirming her status for nearly six months has placed us in a situation of legal uncertainty.

We have taken multiple steps to follow up on the application:

  • Several follow-up emails to the prefecture
  • A formal registered letter (lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception), which has been delivered
  • Attempts to obtain information in person

The only response we have received is that the file has been “accepted and is awaiting processing,” but no timeline or further action has been provided.

Given that more than five months have now passed without any formal acknowledgment of processing (such as an attestation de prolongation d’instruction), we are concerned about the delay and the lack of administrative response.

We would be very grateful for your guidance on the following points:

  • Whether such a delay is compliant with EU Directive 2004/38/EC and French administrative obligations
  • What legal remedies or escalation steps are available in this situation (e.g. formal notice, administrative appeal, or legal action)
  • Whether it would be advisable to involve a lawyer or initiate proceedings to compel the administration to act
  • Any recommended course of action to obtain at least a temporary document confirming her right to stay

Thank you very much for your time and consideration. We would greatly appreciate any advice or direction you can provide.

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2

We are in Vienne. We submitted our applications in September (renewal was due in November: we were here initially on VLS-TS visas) and were able to download a confirmation that our applications were successful. (This was in addition to the confirmation of receipt.)

We were told it might take 9 months to receive Titre de séjours. In the event, we got them earlier this month.

Obviously our situation differs from that of your wife, but it may be that she is able to check online to see if her application has been successful.

3

My Article 50 carte de séjour took well over 9 months between first applying and it being issued. Such waits are not abnormal.

4

We had close to the same issue as you 3 years ago with Maine-et-Loire. When the 6 months had just elapsed, a registered letter did the trick- her file was approved in less than a week. However, I suspect that the issue was a technical glitch with ANEF and not a backlog or issue with the file. I think the only other thing you could try is approaching the EU Solvit desk and see if they could provide a nudge. I don’t think getting a lawyer involved will help. I don’t think anyone will question her right to stay- there’s no ICE here- but it does make travel and other administrative tasks much more difficult.

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5

Welcome to SF! This must be a very frustrating and worrying situation. It is something I too have real concerns about personally, being the spouse of an EU citizen resident in France…

My advice is as follows:-

I agree with @Nunthewiser about sending a formal registered letter with receipt (LRAR). However I would go one step further and would structure this as a “mise en demeure”. This is a formal notice to tell the Préfecture that a) (effectively) you know your rights, b) you know they have exceeded their regulatory time limits for issuing the carte de séjour (CdS) and c) ignoring it after two months is treated as a “rejection”. That would then strengthen your case if you then escalate the case to the Défenseur des Droits. The latter - free of charge - can intervene - hopefully decisively - in cases of this nature.

I would start the above process after the 6 month regulatory limit for issuing the EU family CdS, which is early April.

I should add that assuming your own situation - including finances - enables your wife to properly qualify as a member of an EU citizen’s family in accordance with the EU regulations, your wife’s freedom of movement rights are solely granted by the EU regulations - NOT by the Préfecture issuing the CdS., The latter is of course more than useful (!) as a certificate of having met the required standards at the time of application. If your wife urgently needs the CdS for travel or employment reasons, do also apply for an attestation de prolongation via the ANEF website to ensure there is a record of the application, which is harder for the Préfecture to “lose"!

Good luck and please do let us know how you get on.

6 Likes
6

Thank you all !!
I will keep you all posted with what happens next

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7

Based on George1’s suggestion it sounds like you might see something within about 2 weeks of it being sent.

Also a reminder to anyone trying to get admin and other stuff done. We are fast approaching May, when things often stop in France, as most of the May weeks have a Public Holiday. It’s even worse this year, as several long, long weekends within that month are possible this year due to the days of the week the Public Holiday dates fall onto. So things will basically grind to a halt getting things done in May, because the full complement of workers is never in.

So if you need anything doing try to get it done in April. After Easter, that is :slight_smile: . And tax season is about to open so any tax queries best before if poss, otherwise it’s a lot harder.

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