She Gets the Withdrawal of Her Resident Card Overturned, but the Prefect Persists… and This Moroccan Woman Wins Again

The case began when this Moroccan national, born in 1985, applied to renew her resident card.

When examining her file, the prefect of Haute-Corse determined that her behavior constituted a serious threat to public order. In an order dated July 5, 2024, he withdrew her resident card and replaced it with a simple temporary residence permit.

The Moroccan woman challenged this decision before the Bastia Administrative Court. On July 18, 2025, the judges ruled in her favor and annulled the prefectural order.

The prefect, however, refused to stop there. On August 8 of the same year, he brought the case before the Marseille Administrative Court of Appeal in an attempt to have this initial victory overturned.

According to him, the measure did not deprive the Moroccan woman of any right to remain in France, since she had been issued a temporary permit. Above all, he maintained that her behavior represented a sufficiently serious threat to justify withdrawing her resident card.

The woman in her forties sought the dismissal of the appeal, as well as 3,000 euros to cover her legal costs.

Four Old Convictions and a Closed Case

To defend its decision, the prefecture relied on the Moroccan woman’s record.

She was convicted four times between 2005 and 2015. The offenses notably involved violence committed by a group, resisting authority, insulting a person entrusted with public authority, and drug use.

The penalties imposed were limited: sixty day-fines of 10 euros, a 400-euro fine suspended, another fine of 100 euros accompanied by an awareness course, and 35 hours of community service.

Two other proceedings were closed without further action because she was deemed criminally irresponsible due to her psychological disorders. The most recent concerned the public glorification of an act of terrorism committed in November 2023.

But for the court, these elements were insufficient to establish the existence of a serious and current threat to public order.

The judges noted that the convictions were old and had resulted only in minor penalties. As for the events of 2023, they were isolated, and the prefect had provided the court with neither their precise nature nor their context.

The decision published on Légifrance also emphasized the Moroccan woman’s state of health.

Her psychiatric illness emerged in 2002, after her father’s death. She has since been undergoing significant psychotropic treatment, has been recognized as suffering from a long-term condition, and is regularly hospitalized.

Her doctors notably describe periods marked by delusional ideas, incoherent speech, agitation, or impaired judgment. The court nevertheless held that none of these elements, considered separately or together, made it possible to regard her as a serious threat to public order.

The court also took her personal circumstances into account. Having arrived from Morocco at the age of 12, she lives surrounded by her mother and siblings in Bastia. They are all French or legal residents of France and support her in both her daily life and her medical care.

Single and childless, she no longer has any ties to Morocco.

In its ruling of July 15, 2026, the Marseille Administrative Court of Appeal therefore dismissed the prefect’s petition. The annulment of the withdrawal of her resident card remains in force.

The state must also pay the Moroccan woman 1,500 euros toward her legal costs. After losing before the Bastia Administrative Court, the prefect has therefore lost a second time before the court of appeal.