Two Moroccans have been waiting since 2022 for a simple prefecture appointment: court condemns the state twice on the same day

The two cases were decided on the same day by the Versailles Administrative Court and bear striking similarities. In both cases, the Moroccan nationals had applied for exceptional admission to residency in 2022, repeatedly contacted the prefecture and waited for more than four years without being able to fully submit their files or obtain a receipt.

The first, born in 1986, claims to have entered France on November 21, 2012. He submitted his application on February 7, 2022, through the Essonne prefecture’s platform. More than four years later, he had still not been granted an appointment despite several follow-ups, according to the order of the Versailles Administrative Court.

On Bladi.net : He had been waiting three years for an appointment: the courts force the Essonne prefecture to act

This wait was not without consequences for his professional situation. The Moroccan national submitted documents to the judge attesting to his professional activity between 2019 and 2025, as well as a letter dated October 27, 2025, in which a company stated that it wished to hire him as a mechanic. The prefect of Essonne, to whom his application had been forwarded, submitted no observations in response.

The second Moroccan national was born in 1995 and states that he arrived in France on July 1, 2019. The grounds of the order issued in his case state that he submitted his application for exceptional admission to residency on February 9, 2022, and that he too had been waiting for more than four years. However, the decision’s introductory summary mentions May 9, 2022, before referring to February 9 in the detailed examination of the case.

In his case, the documents submitted established professional activity from 2019 to 2026. A letter from his employer dated December 31, 2024, also indicated the employer’s intention to hire him as a baker at Fournil de Verdun. Once again, the prefecture submitted no observations challenging the evidence provided.

Six weeks to summon the two Moroccans

The two men brought their cases before the interim-relief judge on July 7, 2026. They requested a summons within fifteen days, the issuance of a receipt allowing them, in particular, to work, and a penalty of 50 euros for each day of delay. A similar procedure had recently enabled another Moroccan facing nearly three years of waiting in Essonne to obtain judicial intervention.

The court recalls that a prefecture must allow a foreign national to have their application registered within a “reasonable period” when their file can be examined. For a first application for residency, however, urgency is not automatic: the applicant must demonstrate particular circumstances justifying a prompt appointment.

In both Moroccan cases, the judge specifically considers that this urgency has been established. The exceptional age of the applications, the repeated steps taken with the administration and the professional prospects presented by the individuals justify his intervention. Moreover, according to both orders, the applications face no serious objection.

On Bladi.net : His receipt expires, Moroccan man loses his salary despite having a permanent contract worth 3700 euros

In each case, the state was also ordered to pay the applicant 800 euros in legal costs, amounting to 1,600 euros in total. However, the two decisions do not mean that the Moroccans have been regularized: the judge orders the prefecture to receive them and register their applications, but does not rule at this stage on the final issuance of a residence permit.

These two orders come as several Moroccans have recently had to turn to the courts to continue working because they lacked a receipt or a response from their prefecture. In Essonne, this time, it was two waits that began in 2022 that the same judge decided to bring to an end on the same day.