Lawyers File Mass Appeals Against French State Over Residence Permit Delays

About fifty appeals are to be filed simultaneously on Wednesday, October 9, in several administrative courts in the Paris region (Montreuil, Cergy, Melun, ...), reports Le Parisien.

According to the same source, this measure will allow foreign nationals of all ages, living in Ile-de-France, with or without papers but eligible for a residence permit, to obtain an appointment at the Prefecture to file their application.

If Ivan, 27, of Ukrainian origin, living in Seine-Saint-Denis, has tried many times to make an appointment online without success, this is not the case for Ablavi, a 34-year-old Togolese woman. She obtained the appointment at the Prefecture.

This resident claims to have used the black market. "A colleague had told me it existed, it cost me 50 euros. I bought it from a lady to whom I gave my identity. After that, she sent me an email with an appointment five days before my title expired," she said.

The digitalization as a panacea for the clogging of the prefectures, started in 2016, thus shows its limits because the queues still exist, but in virtual form.