Her husband has a ten-year residence card, but France grants her only one year: court orders the same residence permit

Married since March 2007 to a Moroccan national, this woman, born in 1984, arrived legally in France in September 2023. Her long-stay visa had been issued במסגרת family reunification.

Her husband holds a residence card valid from 22 July 2024 to 21 July 2034. She therefore believed she was entitled to the same permit under the Franco-Moroccan agreement.

On 17 November 2024, she submitted an application on the digital platform for foreigners in France to renew her “private and family life” card, which expired in March 2025. She also requested the issuance of a residence card.

Four months passed without any response. This silence legally gave rise to an implicit refusal on 17 March 2025. The Moroccan woman then brought the case before the Cergy-Pontoise Administrative Court.

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The Hauts-de-Seine prefecture eventually reacted after the proceedings were initiated. It issued her a new “private and family life” card, but only for the period from 28 December 2025 to 27 November 2026.

For the administration, this issuance could render the appeal moot. The claimant, on the contrary, maintained that this one-year card provided her neither the stability nor the rights attached to the ten-year permit she had requested.

A one-year card is not enough to close the case

In its judgment of 25 August 2026, the court ruled in her favor. The judges found that the belated issuance of a temporary permit did not resolve the issue of the residence card and therefore did not eliminate the dispute.

Article 5 of the Franco-Moroccan agreement provides that spouses admitted through family reunification reside under the same conditions as the person they join. The claimant’s husband, however, does hold a card valid for ten years.

The prefecture disputed neither the regularity of her entry into France, nor her marriage, nor the continuation of their shared life. The couple still lives together with their children. Therefore, no factor justified refusing her the benefit of the same status as her husband.

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The court annulled the implicit refusal and did not merely order a review of the case. It directly ordered the Hauts-de-Seine prefect to issue the Moroccan woman a ten-year residence card within two months.

The State must also pay her 1,000 euros toward her legal costs. However, her request for a penalty of 100 euros per day was not upheld.

The decision above all recalls that a prefecture cannot settle an application for a residence card by issuing, during the proceedings, a much more precarious permit. In this case, one year could not replace ten.