She Was Already Living with Her Husband in France, Moroccan Woman Receives an OQTF

Born in 1979, this Moroccan national married a fellow Moroccan in Morocco in 2005. She entered France legally in January 2018 to join him. Her husband holds a ten-year resident card, valid until October 2031.

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In May 2021, he initiated proceedings with the French Office for Immigration and Integration to regularize his wife’s situation through family reunification. However, the application was rejected for a specific reason: the Moroccan woman was already in French territory.

Family reunification is in principle intended to bring a spouse or children who are still living abroad to France. The wife’s presence with her family therefore prevented the completion of the procedure that was specifically meant to allow her to live legally with them.

After this failure, in June 2023 she applied for exceptional admission to residence, together with a “private and family life” residence card. The prefect of Pyrénées-Orientales rejected this new application in January 2024 and ordered her to leave France within thirty days.

The Montpellier administrative court initially upheld this decision. The Moroccan woman then brought the case before the Toulouse administrative court of appeal.

Six Years of Family Life Swept Away by the OQTF

At the time of the prefectural decision, she had been living in France for six years. The couple had three Moroccan children, all attending school in France. The first two were born in Morocco in 2007 and 2010, while the third was born in France in December 2018.

The courts also took into account the mother’s efforts to work and learn French. Her remaining in an irregular situation after her visa expired and the failure of the family reunification procedure was not sufficient to justify removing her.

In its ruling delivered on 24 July 2026, the Toulouse administrative court of appeal held that the OQTF constituted a disproportionate interference with her private and family life. It recalled that the fact that a person could theoretically fall under the family reunification procedure did not exempt the prefecture from concretely examining the length of her presence and the strength of her ties in France.

The court annulled the administrative court’s judgment as well as the prefectural order in its entirety: the refusal of residence, the obligation to leave France and the designation of the country of return.

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The prefect must now issue the Moroccan woman a temporary residence authorization within fifteen days and reconsider her situation. The decision therefore does not immediately grant her a permanent residence card, but it allows her to remain legally in France while awaiting a new response from the administration.