In what timeframe is it possible to challenge the rejection of a French residence card application

Once an application for a residence permit has been submitted, regardless of the submission method, it may be subject to either an explicit negative decision (in written form) or an implicit rejection (after a certain period, generally four months, the application is deemed rejected). In both cases, the applicant has the right to lodge an appeal before the courts. The law and the case law of the Conseil d’État (French highest administrative Court) have clarified the applicable deadlines within which such an appeal may be filed.

Under French administrative law, a foreign national has two months to file an appeal before the tribunal administratif following the rejection of her/his application¹. However, in many cases this appeal period cannot be enforced, because in order for the time limit to be enforceable, the law requires that the applicant be informed of the existence of the deadline, its duration, and the procedures of appeal².

In the context of residence permit applications, foreign applicants generally do not receive any such information, whether at the time of submission or afterwards.

The principle is based on the following logic: it is unreasonable to expect an individual—who is not necessarily an expert in French administrative law—to know the exact procedures for filing an appeal against the unfavorable administrative decision affecting them.

In this case, the law explicitly provides that no deadline is enforceable³. In theory (and until recently this was the case), a foreign national could therefore challenge the rejection of her/his residence permit application at any time.

Nonetheless, the Conseil d’État has recently imposed certain temporal limits on the exercise of this right of appeal.

• Concerning explicit decisions (i.e. decisions issued in written form and notified to the applicant)

In 2016, the Conseil d’État established a first limitation regarding such decisions. In this case, even if the decision does not specify the avenues and deadlines for appeal, the applicant may only file an appeal within one year of the notification of the decision⁴.

For example, when someone submits a residence permit application through the ANEF system and receives a brief message via that same platform rejecting her/his request, this constitutes an explicit decision that does not inform the applicant of the appeal procedure. In this situation, an appeal may be filed before the tribunal administratif within one year from the date of the rejection.

• Concerning implicit decisions (i.e. rejections due to the passage of time)

Very often, the prefecture does not respond to a residence permit application within the legal processing time (generally four months). This applies to all applications, whether submitted through ANEF or by appointment at the prefecture.

Since a 2019 ruling, the Conseil d’État applies the same one-year time limit to implicit rejection decisions—but only if the applicant has at least been made aware that her/his application has been implicitly rejected⁵.

The situation is therefore more complex, because the mere passage of time is not sufficient to presume that the foreign national is aware of the rejection.

In its case law, the Conseil d’État outlines several situations:

1. If, at the time of submitting the application, the applicant is clearly informed that after a certain period the application will be deemed rejected (in practice this almost never occurs), the one-year appeal period begins from the date of the implicit rejection⁶.
2. If the applicant was not informed, but demonstrates that they became aware of the rejection through exchanges with the administration, for example when filing a gracious appeal. In this case, the one-year period begins from the first indisputable evidence that the applicant was aware of the rejection⁷. For example: the date of the first email asking why no decision was issued within the legal timeframe, or the date of the gracious appeal.
3. If the applicant learns of the rejection by requesting the reasons for the implicit decision. Under French administrative law, after an implicit rejection, a foreign national may request that the administration provides the reasons for the rejection within one month⁸. In a recent decision dated 02/10/2025, the Conseil d’État ruled that requesting those reasons demonstrates that the applicant is aware of the rejection⁹. In this case, the one-year time limit begins from the date the request is submitted.
4. If the applicant receives no information and has no exchange with the administration that could show awareness of the rejection. In this situation, no time limit begins to run, and the appeal may theoretically be filed at any point.

Until prefectures and the Ministry of the Interior improve their practices regarding information provided to applicants, the above timeframes will continue to apply in nearly all cases.

It should be noted, however, that filing an appeal within the allowed timeframe is not the only requirement for admissibility. For instance, the Conseil d’État has recently held that if a residence permit application is incomplete (i.e., one or more documents required by law are missing), then the rejection—whether implicit or explicit—cannot be appealed before the tribunal administratif¹⁰.

1. Articles R. 421-1 et R. 421-2 du code de justice administrative ↩︎
2. Article R. 421-5 du code de justice administrative ↩︎
3. Ibid. ↩︎
4. Conseil d’Etat 13/07/2016 n°387763 ↩︎
5. Conseil d’Etat 18/03/2019 n°417270 ↩︎
6. Ibid. ↩︎
7. Ibid. ↩︎
8. Article L. 232-4 du code des relations entre le public et l’administration ↩︎
9. Conseil d’Etat 02/10/2025 n°504677 ↩︎
10. Conseil d’Etat 10/10/2023 n°472831 ↩︎