She gets her OQTF annulled, but when the prefecture reexamines her case, her job has disappeared
After an initial victory in 2023, a Moroccan woman has just lost her new appeal against a refusal of residence and an OQTF. When her case was reexamined, she no longer had an active job, and no employer had applied for a work permit.
Born in 1992, the Moroccan national married a Frenchman in February 2017 in Morocco. She entered France on 23 September of the same year with a long-stay visa as the spouse of a French national, and then obtained a multi-year residence permit valid until September 2020.
When she applied for its renewal, the prefect of Hérault refused to issue her a new permit. An order dated 11 October 2021 also required her to leave France within thirty days and designated the country to which she would be returned.
The Moroccan woman won an initial victory on 21 November 2023. The Toulouse Administrative Court of Appeal ruled that the prefecture had made an error of law by refusing her application for an employee residence permit because she worked part-time. The regulations required compliance with the minimum hourly rate and the duration provided for by the collective agreement, not monthly remuneration equivalent to full-time employment, specifies the 2023 ruling.
On Bladi.net : Having come to France as a volunteer, this Moroccan woman lands a permanent contract… then receives an OQTF
The court therefore annulled the refusal to issue her an employee residence permit as well as the OQTF, but did not grant her a residence card directly. It merely ordered the prefect to reexamine her case within one month.
The prefecture summoned her on 13 December 2023 and gave her a provisional residence permit. But her professional situation was no longer the one examined two years earlier.
Her contract with EGN Hôtellerie had been suspended since 2 November 2021. She had subsequently worked part-time as a cleaner for Dias Multi Services 34 under a permanent contract that began in January 2022. This contract ended on 6 September 2023 with her dismissal for gross misconduct. The company had not submitted any application for a work permit.
No employer had contacted the prefecture
The 1987 Franco-Moroccan agreement provides that a Moroccan national wishing to engage in salaried employment in France for at least one year may obtain an employee residence permit after presenting an employment contract endorsed by the competent authorities.
When a foreign national is already residing in France, the application for a work permit must be submitted by the employer. If this step has been taken, the prefect must examine it before ruling on the residence permit. The prefect cannot refuse the card solely on the grounds that the permit or endorsed contract has not yet been issued.
However, this protection applies only if an application exists. In December 2023, the Moroccan woman had neither an endorsed contract, nor a valid work permit, nor an application submitted by an employer.
On Bladi.net : France Regularizes Workers in Shortage Occupations, but a Franco-Moroccan Agreement Closes the Door
The certificate provided by EGN Hôtellerie changes nothing. It merely confirmed the suspension of a former contract and could not replace a new work permit, even though the Moroccan woman had been authorized to work when she was hired.
The prefect of Hérault therefore once again refused her permit on 27 December 2023 and issued a new OQTF. The Montpellier Administrative Court upheld this decision in June 2024.
In its ruling of 17 September 2026, the Toulouse Administrative Court of Appeal in turn dismissed the Moroccan woman’s appeal. Her arguments concerning her private and family life and the prefect’s power to regularize her situation did not alter the decision. Since no application had been submitted by an employer, the prefecture had no work permit to examine before ruling.
