Avocat à la Cour · Barreau de Paris (Paris Bar)
Residence, removal, asylum: act within the time limit.
Once the time limit for bringing a challenge has expired, the case becomes inadmissible — however strong it may be.
Reply within 2 hours on working days · Aide juridictionnelle (legal aid) accepted
First steps
- Identify the date of notification — it is the date that starts time running, not the date of the decision.
- Keep the envelope and the acknowledgement of receipt.
- Call before you file anything — a recours gracieux (an informal application to the authority) on its own suspends nothing.
A photograph of the notification is accepted by WhatsApp.
Have you just received a decision? Time runs from the date of notification.
48 hrs
Challenge if you are held in administrative detention — the court rules within 96 hours
7 days
Challenge if you are subject to house arrest or held in prison — judgment within 15 days
1 month
Challenge to an OQTF (an order to leave French territory) in all other cases, with or without a period for voluntary departure
6 months
The time allowed to the court to give judgment, sitting as a full bench
2 months
Refusal of naturalisation, after the mandatory preliminary application to the minister
What is your situation
One page per situation, not one paragraph per field of law
Eight procedures, each with its own time limits, its own court and its own grounds. Choose the one that concerns you.
Time limit 48 hrs to 1 month
I have received an OQTF (in French)
Application to set the decision aside before the tribunal administratif (administrative court), challenge to the country of removal and to the IRTF (a ban on returning to French territory).
Time limit 1 to 2 months
My residence permit has been refused
Challenge to the refusal to issue or to renew the permit, with or without an OQTF attached.
Deadline 31/12/2026
I work in a shortage occupation
Exceptional admission to residence through employment — article L. 435-4 CESEDA.
Time limit 48 hrs
Someone close to me is in an administrative detention centre
Application to the juge des libertés et de la détention (the judge responsible for detention and liberty), challenge to the detention order, application for release.
Time limit 1 month
OFPRA (the French office for the protection of refugees) has rejected my asylum claim
Appeal to the Cour nationale du droit d’asile (the national asylum court), preparation of the hearing.
Time limit 2 months
My naturalisation has been refused or deferred
Mandatory preliminary administrative appeal, followed by an application to the administrative court.
Time limit 48 hrs to 1 month
A ban on returning has been served on me
Challenge to the IRTF together with the OQTF, to its duration, or an application for its withdrawal from abroad.
2 months before expiry
I want to change my status
Moving from student to employee status, or from one ground of residence to another, before the permit expires.