After 40 Years in France, Algerian Father Faces Deportation Shock: "Go Back to Your Country

Samy, an Algerian who arrived in France at the age of 4 and has been living there for more than 40 years, finds himself in a complicated situation. While he has filed his residence permit renewal application - which he is used to doing every 10 years, he was met with a refusal from the prefecture of Aveyron. Instead, he received an OQTF. Currently, this father of two children of French nationality finds himself under house arrest. He is therefore unable to work. He risks being deported to Algeria, his country of origin... But what shocked him the most is that at the prefecture of Aveyron, he was even told the following sentence: "Why don’t you go back to your country?".

Samy, who has spent his entire life in France and has only returned to Algeria for the funeral of his father, is faced with incomprehension. "I don’t even speak the language, I have all my memories here," he confided to the French media La Dépêche. The Algerian national says he is a "victim of the diplomatic conflict" between Algeria and France. According to him, the Retailleau circular, in addition to the harm it causes to undocumented immigrants seeking regularization, also negatively impacts foreigners legally residing in France who are applying for the renewal of their residence permits.

Samy intends to use the appeal process to assert his rights. "I have been in France for almost half a century... I will fight with all the appeals... I don’t want them to make our children orphans," he assured.