France suspects their marriage, but she is pregnant: Moroccan man’s visa refusal suspended

The Moroccan national had applied for a long-stay visa to join his French wife. The consulate rejected his application on 16 September 2025. Referred the matter by the couple, the commission responsible for examining appeals against visa refusals upheld that decision on 18 December.

The administration questioned the authenticity of the union. The Moroccan man and his wife, on the contrary, maintained that their marriage was not fraudulent in any way. They married on 12 April 2025, before the man returned to Morocco on 8 June that same year.

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The separation then continued. The French wife, pregnant by her husband, explained that she could not travel continually to Morocco because of her job and the presence of another child in her care. She also reported a deterioration in her psychological health.

The couple then initiated two proceedings: an appeal seeking the definitive annulment of the refusal and an urgent application to suspend the decision pending a ruling on the merits. The Interior Minister opposed this application, arguing that urgency had not been established and that no argument seriously cast doubt on the legality of the refusal.

In its order of 6 August 2026, the Nantes Administrative Court did not follow that position. The judge noted that the spouses had been separated since the Moroccan man returned to his country and considered that the length of the separation was sufficient to establish urgency.

The judge does not yet order the visa to be issued

On the merits, the court considers that the argument that the marriage was not fraudulent could reveal an error of assessment by the administration. At this stage of the proceedings, this argument therefore creates serious doubt as to the legality of the refusal.

This assessment does not mean that the courts have already definitively recognized the sincerity of the marriage. The interim-relief judge merely suspended the commission’s decision until the court rules on the application for annulment.

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The Interior Ministry will have to reconsider the Moroccan spouse’s visa application within one month. The couple had requested a new examination within seven days, but the court did not go that far. Nor did it order the visa to be issued immediately.

The State will also have to pay 440 euros to the couple’s lawyer, subject to certain conditions related to legal aid, as well as a total of 360 euros to the two spouses. The Moroccan man therefore remains in Morocco for the time being, but the suspicion surrounding his marriage can no longer, as matters stand, automatically justify maintaining the refusal.