French Authorities Struggling to Issue Residence Permits on Time as Backlogs Soar

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Significant delays in obtaining residence permits continue to remain among the main problems with which authorities in France are dealing.

Besides, the situation led a hundred people to gather on the forecourt of the prefecture of Seine-et-Marne in France, to denounce the difficulties of obtaining a residence permit, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

A report provided by Actu France revealed that in the gathering held earlier this year related to this problem also participated Pascale Perez, from the Movement against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples (MRAP), Jean-Pierre Cretaz from the Human Rights League (LDH), Yves Terrenoire from the Education Without Borders Network (RESF) and other activists.

โ€œThere is a general policy problem. When a minister explains that he wants to make life impossible, itโ€™s because itโ€™s not working anymore, the collective is alarmed. In particular, they note processing times that are getting longer, to the point that certain documents expire when the file is taken over,โ€ the participants pointed out in this regard.

In addition, there have also been concerns regarding the change in the law on the situation of foreigners. Jean-Pierre Cretaz considered that the law on foreigners is becoming unreadable even for professionals.

For many years, authorities in France have been dealing with significant delays in processing residence permits, while the spread of the Coronavirus and its new strains led to further worsen the situation.

The data provided by the Directorate-General for Foreigners in France (DGEF) last year revealed that in 2021, there were issued 270,925 first residence permits.

According to DGEF, compared to 2020, the issuance of first residence permits increased by 21.4 per cent in 2021, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

โ€œThe number of visas requested and issued in 2021 is up slightly (respectively 12.9 per cent and 2.9 per cent more) compared to 2020, reflecting the still-present effects of the covid-19 pandemic crisis, which very strongly constrains migratory flows with the exception of long-stay visas, which in 2021 returned to the pre-crisis level,โ€ the EU Commission noted.

The data provided by Statista earlier this year revealed that in 2020 the number of residence documents for family reunification purposes increased notably.

In addition, Statisaโ€™s figures showed that out of 193,301 permits issued, 75,482 residence permits were granted to third-country nationals of this category in France in 2020.

Despite the figures provided above the law in France states that the delay period for holding a residence permit in France should not surpass four months.

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