Residence permits: malfunctions in making appointments on the prefecture's website

A new report by the Defender of Rights (Défenseur des droits) on the dematerialization of public services denounces "systemic dysfunctions" and serious violations of the rights of foreigners "third-country nationals of the European Union. The online procedures imposed on them, with no possible alternative, to be granted a right of residence, have indeed experienced "a large number of structural dysfunctions leading to significant breaches of rights", on which the services of the Defender of Rights have been "massively" seized.

Online appointment booking is a source of major litigation.

The Defender of Rights reiterates her criticism of the prefectures which, since 2016, have use of online appointment booking modules and make certain procedures relating to the stay of foreigners subject to the prior obtaining of an appointment by this bias alone.

If electronic referral to the administration remains a right for users, they cannot have it imposed on them, and any administration is therefore required to provide an alternative.

To remedy the malfunction of online appointment booking, it is still possible to file a summary "useful measures" before the administrative court. The Defender of Rights presented several dozen observations in the context of interim measures useful aimed at ordering the prefecture to issue an appointment. The administrative courts have granted almost all of these requests and the Council of State has precisely framed this dispute (CE, June 10, 2020, no 435594).

The "simplified procedures" system, put in place at most during the health crisis to deal with the closing of counters and which technically allows an administration to dematerialize any administrative procedure of its choice, has been deployed outside of any framework legal, with no alternative means of referral to the administration possible. Some prefectures have taken this opportunity to remove any alternative procedure.

The “useful measures” referral (référé « mesures utiles ») remains a key tool for obtaining an appointment with the prefecture services that practice the dematerialized procedure.

The Office of Maître CERF supports you in these steps, until you obtain your residence permit.

For the Report of the Defender of Rights, click here

A propos de Maitre CERF

Maître CERF took an oath in February 1999 at the Bar of Paris. Graduated from the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas and the University College of London (UCL), Maître CERF advises and defends people before the administrative, civil and criminal jurisdictions. Bilingual English/French, Maître CERF assists and advises clients provided with her international experience.