Summoned at 9 a.m. for her wedding, OQTF at 12:30 p.m.: this Moroccan woman gets the prefecture convicted

The Moroccan national planned to marry a Frenchman at Orléans town hall. According to her statements, she had entered France irregularly on September 18, 2024.

However, the marriage plans attracted the attention of the civil registry office. On March 7, 2025, the public prosecutor of Orléans decided to postpone the ceremony until April 7 in order to verify that the conditions relating to the future spouses’ consent were indeed met.

As part of this investigation, the couple was summoned by the border police on March 14 at 9 a.m. Just a few hours after the hearing began, the situation changed dramatically.

At 12:30 p.m., the Moroccan woman was notified by the Loiret prefecture of an obligation to leave French territory within thirty days. Morocco was designated as the country of removal and her passport was retained. She also had to report every Wednesday at 9 a.m. to the border police in Olivet.

On Bladi.net : Five weeks with her French husband, then an OQTF: this Moroccan woman gets everything annulled

The young woman then challenged the order before the administrative court. In particular, she argued that the removal procedure had in fact been used to obstruct her marriage to the French national.

The court notes the prefecture’s “rush”

In its judgment issued on August 14, 2026, the Orléans administrative court ruled in her favor on this point.

The judges noted the “rush” with which the prefecture acted once it had been informed of the marriage plans. The OQTF had officially been justified by the fact that the Moroccan woman had remained in France without taking steps to regularize her situation.

For the court, however, the chronology revealed another reality: the removal measure must be regarded as having had the “determining motive” of preventing the marriage. The judges therefore found a “misuse of power.”

This conclusion was sufficient to overturn the OQTF, without the court even needing to examine the other arguments raised by the Moroccan national, notably the interference with her private and family life and with freedom of marriage.

The court therefore annulled the prefectural order of March 14, 2025, as well as the decision designating her country of removal.

On Bladi.net : She Was Already Living with Her Husband in France, Moroccan Woman Receives an OQTF

The consequences are immediate. The Loiret prefect must issue the Moroccan woman with a temporary residence permit during the reexamination of her situation, which must take place within a maximum period of two months.

The prefecture must also return her Moroccan passport within fifteen days of notification of the judgment. Finally, the State was ordered to pay her 1,500 euros in legal costs.

The case therefore differs from many annulments of OQTFs based on family circumstances or length of stay in France: here, the judges directly penalize the use of a removal measure to prevent a marriage plan.