How to apply for asylum in France? Asylum seekers proceedings Guide

Collectif de soutien des exilés du X ème arrondissement de Paris 06 31 53 28 89 exiles10@rezo.net www.exiles10.org How to apply for asylum in France? Asylum seekers proceedings Guide You intend to request asylum in France. According to the French law and the International convention of Geneva of 1951 (of the United Nations), asylum s right is given to anybody who fears with good reason to be persecuted due to his race, his religion, his nationality, his belonging to a certain social group, or his political opinions, remains out of the country of his/her nationality and due to this threat, can t claim the protection of this country. For all the following steps, please keep in mind that the asylum seeker must: - keep a copy of every document that you will submit to the administration - keep the original ones and submit the copy (except the identity/identification? documents and passport- if you have them - given to OFPRA 1 ) - send filled requested forms by post with a receipt of delivery ( recommandé avec avis de reception ) and keep the proof of the sending, which is a blue paper, and the proof of reception, a pink one. If you are under 18 years old, please read all this document and the part exclusively written for your situation page 7 ADMISSION TO THE STAY WITH THE POLICE PREFECTURE Any applicant of asylum must go to the administrative center called «prefecture» of his place of residence in France in order to be allowed to remain in France under the asylum status. In Paris, foreigners reception center is located at 218 rue d Aubervilliers, Paris 19th quarter. The asylum seeker (A.S.) does not need to present an identity card or a passport. This step must be done as soon as possible to avoid any suspicion on a delayed request. A/ The regular procedure: admission to the stay in France The prefecture records the asylum request and delivers in a timeframe of 15 days a provisional stay authorization - «autorisation provisoire de séjour (APS) valid for a month, being marked «with the intent to do the necessary steps toward OFPRA 1». The prefecture also delivers a form for asylum request to be filled in French and submitted with the requested documents within 21 days to OFPRA (see below) Note : If the applicant does not profit from a certificate of residency, he/she must get a delivery of residency from an association labeled by the prefecture./ must have domiciled near an association "approved by the prefecture" When the APS expires, the A.S. must justify to the prefecture that he/she send documents to OFPRA by producing the OFPRA receipt letter. 1 Office Français de Protection des Réfugiés et Apatrides : French office for Refugees and Stateless persons 201 rue Carnot - 94136 Fontenay sous bois Mars 2006 Page 1

The prefecture then deliver within 3 maximum days a receipt acknowledging the deposit to OFPRA of a request of asylum which is valid for three month. This form is renewable until OFPRA and if necessary Commission of recourse of refugees / commission for appeal of asylum request (Commission de Recours des Réfugiés or CRR) have taken a decision on the asylum request. Note: When this form has to be renewed, the residency /lodging attestation from an association is not relevant any longer. The AS must give evidence of a location of residency, which implies he/she has one! Under these conditions, applicants who are deprived of effective residence are likely to become "withoutpapers in regular situation". B/ Cases of refusal of admission to the stay Prefectures can reject the admission to the stay in France in the 4 cases enunciated below: 1) If another European Union country gave a visa to the asylum seeker or took his fingerprints before his/her arrival in France, France doesn t study the request. France endeavor to return the asylum seeker in the country responsible for the examination of his request. 2) The asylum seeker: - has a nationality of a country where the circumstances in the country justifying that the quality of refugee are not recognized any more due to some changes (such as the restoration of democracy) - or is arising from a country of origin considered «safe». 3) The presence of this person would constitute a serious threat to the public order, public safety or state security. 4) The asylum request rests on fraud (false identity, multiple requests under different identitities, etc ) or is requested after a removal measure. Only in these last 3 cases, the asylum seeker can contact OFPRA to examine his/her request but according to the «priority procedure» : OFPRA takes a decision in 15 days. Note: This time is brought back to 96 hours if the asylum seeker is in detention center, and without necessarily calling him in. C/ Renewing the stay authorisation If the asylum seeker has been submitted to the «prioritary procedure» without giving him/her a receipt of authorisation to the stay in France, this paragraph is of no interest for him, neither if he is living by a private person, or within a housing for asylum seekers (CADA or AUDA). In such a case, it is sufficient to bring the updated proof of his housing (private person, CADA or AUDA) to the police prefecture to be granted the renewal of his authorisation to the stay in France. If he received a delivery of residency from an association labelled by the prefecture to obtain his 3 months authorisation to the stay (see above), he is not supposed to use the same delivery in order to renew it. To do so, he will need a certificate from a private person acknowledging that he/she is lodging him, a copy of his/her identity document, his/her last rent bill (or his/her ownership certificate, if he she owns his/her accomodation), and a copy of his/her last electricity or home telephone bill. If he is living in the streets or in an emergency housing center, he shall ask to a dedicated association how to obtain the receipt letter of stay authorisation, despite his situation. You should keep in mind that without this receipt letter, the AS will not benefit anymore of his monthly allowance (see below, asylum seekers and refugees right ) ASYLUM REQUEST Asylum request form must be withdrawn with the prefecture at the time of the request for admission in France. Mars 2006 Page 2

The asylum seeker fills this form by indicating information relative to his/her marital status, his departure date from his country, and of arrival date in France, his itinerary followed from his country of origin to France, the means of transport used, and reasons why he left his country and which justify his request for recognition as a refugee. Note : It is compulsory to fill this form in French as requested by the law. This form comprises a series of 11 questions that must be answered in the most detailed possible way. If necessary, pages can be added to this form. Any demand badly argued can be considered as «obviously irrelevant», and subject to be rejected in that case without hearing. You must take care to call upon personal facts of persecution or fears of persecution (date, place, circumstances, authors, etc). Do not hesitate to provide details even if they seemed insignificants, over the personal history of the applicant. Too general formulas on reasons why you left your country must be avoided. Do not limit to refer to the general political situation of the country. On the form, the asylum seeker indicates his current address. If he has a personal address of a private individual or has been given a delivery of residency, this name must be clearly indicated so that OFPRA letters can be sent at this address. If it is lodged or domiciled by a third, one should not omit to mention the name of this one clearly so that the letters which will be addressed to him by the OFPRA can to indeed come him During all the procedure, every address change must be quickly and necessarily notified to OFPRA and CRR by a letter with a receipt of delivery. OFPRA s DECISION OFPRA takes a decision on the asylum request with or without an interview. In any cases, when this decision is taken, it is send with a receipt of delivery that the A.S. will have to withdraw at the post office. If OFPRA invite the A.S. to an interview before taking the decision, this is important that he goes to explain his situation. A translator can be present at the interview. If the demand is rejected, the A.S. has a month from the reception of the answer of OFPRA to appeal this decision in front of the Refugee Appeal Commission CRR 2. OFPRA must indicate the reasons why the asylum request has been rejected. If the demand is accepted, the A.S. must go to the police prefecture with this letter of OFPRA, the certificate of residency, and 4 identity pictures. The prefecture will give him within 8 days a document of demand to stay récépissé de demande de titre de séjour. This document is renewable and valid for 3 months and recognize the A.S. as a refugee. With this document, the refugee is allowed to work legally in France. If the A.S. has not received any answer of OFPRA after 2 months, and do not want to wait any longer, this can be considered as an implicit rejection of OFPRA of his asylum request. He can appeal this decision to the CRR. However, this is often preferable to wait for a written answer, because a decision of reject of OFPRA may cause the end of the admission to stay in France. The temporary admission to stay form or APS (see page 1) can be withdrawn from him. 2 CRR : Commission de Recours des Réfugiés. 35 rue Cuvier - 93100 Montreuil Mars 2006 Page 3

APPEAL TO THE COMMISSION CRR The appeal against the reject of your demand by OFPRA must be written in French. It must be send by post with a receipt of delivery to the CRR. It must arrive within the 30 days of reception of the answer of OFPRA (except if you didn t receive any letter from OFPRA). With this letter must be send: - the copy of the OFPRA notifying the reject of your Asylum request - if you have not received any letters of OFPRA after 2 month, the copy of your asylum request (liasse OFPRA) and the proof of deposit (postal pink receipt of receipt given by OFPRA if you brought it directly to OFPRA). The AS must indicate that the 2 months of silence of OFPRA following the request is considered as an implicit refusal. The appeal request must explained in detail the reasons why the A.S. contest the decision of OFPRA, such as the personal reasons which triggered his departure from his country and the persecutions he suffered from or evident threat of persecutions he was subject to. The AS must quote the reasons of refusal of OFPRA given in the answer and counter-argue these points. In order to be more precise in his argumentation, the A.S. can request to the CRR by post with delivery of reception - the possibility to read and copy the file that OFPRA wrote on his case. This file contains the notes from the interview of the asylum seeker at OFPRA and also the remarks from the official who has conducted the interview. This can now be read over by the A.S. or his/her lawyer in the CRR s offices. This file is sent by OFPRA to the CRR within the 15 days that it has been informed of the appeal by the CRR. APPEALS HEARING The court hearing will be announced to the A.S. 15 days in advance by a letter with a receipt of delivery. The asylum seeker has the option to submit additional information for his case or any documents that could help defend his case, by himself or with the help of his/her lawyer if he has one. The CRR will only accept to examine new evidence if it arrives 3 days before the date of the court hearing. In some cases, the CRR will give a court order to designate on what date the consideration of the case is closed. It is advisable to not wait until the last minute to send additional or complementary information or documents. The CRR can make its decision by court order even without hearing the asylum seeker, especially in cases where there is no serious element presented that can make appeal to the reasons for the decision of OFPRA (article 5-V of the 1952 law). This possibility should incite the asylum seeker to improve his case in terms of the case that he sent to OFPRA and to show as specifically as he can how OFPRA could have made a mistake in judging the case. The additional information or documents that are added to the case must be written in French, or if the originals are in a foreign language, they should be brought with a certified translation done by a registered translator. THE DECISION OF THE CRR (APPEALS COMMISSION) If the CRR accepts the appeal and nullifies the OFPRA decision, the police office (prefecture) will give the asylum seeker, within 8 days of his request, a receipt of request of a temporary residency card (récepissé de demande de carte de séjour), which is renewable for Mars 2006 Page 4

a validity of 3 months with the comment Recognized as Refugee and giving permission to work. If the CRR rejects the appeal, the person concerned is no longer considered as an asylum seeker: his request for a temporary residency card (récépissé de demande de carte de séjour) is taken away and he is designated a certain time period, usually one month, within which he must leave the French territory otherwise he will run the risk of being arrested and tried under law and/or deported by force. SUBSIDIARY PROCEDURE For some situations where the person does not really fulfill the conditions for refugee status, OFPRA can review the asylum request in the frame of the subsidiary protection. This protection applies when a person can justify of direct and individual threats against his life or his rights, such as a death sentence, torture, or humiliating and inhuman treatments. This person does not have to request to receive specifically this subsidiary protection. It is OFPRA and CRR, which decide that this protection applies for his/her situation. THE REEXAMINATIONS It is possible for those «rejected» (asylum seekers for whom their request has definitively been rejected) to ask for a reexamination of their case by OFPRA and eventually by the CRR. To be able to ask for a reexamination, the asylum seeker must be able to have new elements, that are events that have occurred after the date of the definitive rejection of the case (or events from before that have come to light after receiving the decision). Before contacting OFPRA, he must present himself to the police office (prefecture) in order to ask for their right to stay in France (see above, 3). The police office must give the concerned person, in the case of a normal procedure, the same APS (temporary permission to stay) and the same OFPRA file that he received during his first request. But this time, the asylum seeker only has eight (8) days to send his case to OFPRA, who will make its decision within 96 hours after receiving the case. If OFPRA does not respond within 4 days, this means that the case has been rejected (article 3 of the 2004-814 decree). If this rejection is written, the asylum seeker can appeal to the CRR within the next 30 days. If there is no reply from OFPRA (and no decision in writing), there is no delay imposed on the asylum seeker for the appeal. Mars 2006 Page 5

THE ASYLUM SEEKER AND REFUGEE S RIGHTS Work Since 1991, asylum seekers no longer have the right to work : even if they find an employer, in the majority of cases, they will not obtain work permission because the work situation will most often be opposed. If the AS wish to work, this will be only possible if - he didn t get any definitive answer of OFPRA after one year following his request. - he received a negative answer from OFPRA, and appeal to the CRR. Even in these 2 situations, access to work is difficult. Ask for advice to the Collectif de soutien des exilés Allocation The asylum seeker can sign up at the ANPE (employment office). He will receive a monthly allowance of 300 Euros (approximately) for each adult or until the decision of OFPRA and the CRR are announced, if this comes earlier. Lodging Once he received the confirmation from OFPRA of reception of his asylum request, the asylum seeker can ask to get a lodging through the national reception system (DNA dispositif national d accueil). He will receive an allowance here in order to pay for the minimum daily expenses. The request to be admitted to the DNA must be presented to the DDASS (Departmental direction for sanitary and social action), or directly with the help of organizations who will transfer the request. This request is accepted after one month of administrative silence. The Office of International Migrations (OMI, 44 rue Bargue, 75732 Paris Cedex 15 / telephone: 01 53 69 53 43) assures the coordination with the DNA from January 1, 2004 on. The number of spaces available in the reception centers are limited and less than the number of asylum seekers present in France. Therefore, a commission for admissions makes a selection amongst the requests. Couples or women with children, non French speaking asylum seekers, and asylum seekers who have a better chance of getting a positive response from OFPRA, are favored for admission. Before this confirmation (recipissé) or if you couldn t get a lodging despite your recipissé due to the lack of availability, you can contact if you live in Paris : - for families with children : CAFDA, 44 rue Planchat, 75020 Paris. - for isolated persons or couples without children : FTDA, 4 rue Doudeauville, 75018 Paris. In emergency cases or if no other solutions can be found, you can call 115 (Samu social) or look in the practical guide of the collectif. PROCEDURE FOR PERSONS UNDER 18 YEARS OLD 1) Asylum Procedure Asylum request reviews are almost similar to those for adults. So young persons or minor need to read this whole guide. A minor must go to the prefecture with a proof of address (see page 1). If he is below 14 years old, it is not allowed to photograph his fingerprints. Otherwise, this will be done. Prefectures are not supposed to give a provisional authorization of stay (APS or récépissé) to under aged persons. In practice, they often deliver one (October 2005). Mars 2006 Page 6

Then, either the prefecture notifies the public prosecutor (procureur de la République) that a minor wants to request asylum ; or OFPRA does it when the office receive the filled request. As long as the public prosecutor did not designate an adult who will be responsible to help the minor ( he is called administrateur ad hoc ), his asylum request won t be reviewed by OFPRA. When this administrateur ad-hoc is designated, he co-signs the asylum request. He can eventually help to complete the request with the questions to OFPRA. If the request is rejected by OFPRA, the rules to appeal to CRR are the same than for adults with only one difference : the administrator ad-hoc must approve and sign this request. 2) Protection by the children judge Asylum is not the only protection for under aged foreigners when they are «isolated» (without any family members in France). They can address to the children s court a request of protection. This request must be preferably written and send with a delivery of receipt. This request of protection helps to get a lodging or an inscription to school. (For the Paris court, the minor needs to write at this address: Monsieur le Président, Tribunal pour enfants, TGI de Paris, 4, boulevard du Palais,75001 Paris). It is advised to ask, in the one hand asylum to OFPRA and in the other hand a protection to the children court. If the under age encounters difficulty with the children judge/magistrate (reject of his demand, no answer to his written request, which is more and more frequent), he needs write to the «children defensor» to inform him of his situation and must have an address to get his answer (Défenseur des enfants, 104 boulevard Blanqui, 75013 Paris). Mars 2006 Page 7