Moroccan Mother of Two Faces Deportation After French Husband Loses Citizenship
In 2018, a Moroccan woman joined her husband in France, where he was then a French citizen. They had two children, and she worked. But her husband’s loss of French citizenship upended her residency case. A court has now upheld the order requiring her to leave the country.
When she arrived in France on July 24, 2018, the Moroccan national held a long-stay visa as the spouse of a French citizen. She later obtained a multi-year residence permit valid until August 24, 2023.
However, a decree dated May 15, 2020, stripped her husband of French citizenship. On August 4, 2025, the Moselle prefecture cited this change in refusing to renew his wife’s residence permit. Her husband is himself in an irregular situation, the ruling notes.
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The Moroccan woman then tried another route. On November 17, 2025, she applied for an employee residence permit. She has worked at her husband’s company since January 2023, but that job was not enough to move her application forward.
In its ruling of October 22, 2026, the Strasbourg Administrative Court noted that switching to an “employee” residence permit is governed by the 1987 Franco-Moroccan agreement: in particular, applicants must provide an employment contract approved by the competent authorities.
The applicant does not dispute that she lacks this document. Her previous residence permit allowed her to work legally, but that does not exempt her from the requirements for obtaining the new status.
On March 9, 2026, the prefect rejected her application, ordered her to leave France within thirty days and barred her from returning for one year.
Two children born in France, but deportation order upheld
To challenge the decision, the mother also invoked her family life. She has lived in France for seven and a half years, works and is raising two children, aged six and two, both born in France.
However, the judges found that these circumstances were not enough to establish that most of her personal and family ties are now in France. They noted, in particular, the lack of other evidence demonstrating her social integration, as well as her husband’s irregular status.
In its decision issued on October 22, the court dismissed the Moroccan woman’s appeal. The refusal of her residence permit, the order to leave France and the ban on returning were upheld. The judges also refused to order the prefecture to issue her a residence permit or temporary residence authorization.
