According to Conseil d’Etat, a mere delay in processing a residence permit application by a prefecture does not, by itself, justify the use of the « référé liberté » procedure
As a reminder, the so-called référé liberté procedure allows any individual to bring a case before a French administrative Court and obtain a decision within 48 hours when the administration has caused a serious and obviously unlawful infringement of their rights and freedoms. In a decision dated 28/10/20251, the Conseil d’Etat (French highest administrative Court) recalled that such a procedure is only available to individuals who can demonstrate a particular urgency, which was not the case of a foreign national who had filed an application to renew his residence permit that the prefecture was simply slow to process, even if his previous residence permit had already expired.
In the case at hand, the applicant was a Senegalese national whose “student” residence permit expired on 25/09/2025 and who submitted a renewal application on 25/06/2025.
As is often the case, the prefecture did not respond to the renewal request before the previous permit expired, leaving the applicant in an irregular situation.
The applicant argued that the delay in renewing his “student” residence permit placed him in a situation of material and financial distress, as it prevented him from securing a work-study contract alongside his studies, thereby depriving him of the means to support himself.
Concerned about avoiding further overburdening administrative courts, the Conseil d’Etat held that such a situation did not amount to a serious and immediate threat justifying the intervention of a judge within 48 hours. However, it did recall that this situation could justify the use of other urgent procedures, such as the référé suspension or the référé mesures utiles, which require a lower threshold of urgency but may take several weeks before a decision is taken.
In summary, when a foreign national’s residence permit expires while a renewal application is pending and the prefecture is slow to respond, we recommend consulting a lawyer to file a request of référé mesures utiles or référé suspension in order to obtain at least a temporary document maintaining their rights (such as a récépissé or an attestation de prolongation d’instruction). Recourse to the référé liberté procédure will only be possible in particularly urgent and serious situations, for example if the person is at imminent risk of losing her/his job.