Receiving an Obligation to Leave French Territory (OQTF) when you are married to a French citizen or are the parent of a French child is both urgent and destabilising. It raises immediate questions: does marriage protect me? Can I still apply for a residence permit? Which appeal should I bring, and how quickly?
The Immigration Act of 26 January 2024 significantly changed this area. This article explains the current protections and the steps to take without delay.
What is an OQTF and when can one be issued?
An OQTF is an administrative decision by which the prefect requires a foreign national to leave France. Article L. 611-1 of the CESEDA provides for OQTFs in a number of situations, including unlawful residence, refusal or non-renewal of a residence permit, certain public-order cases and final refusal of an asylum claim.
The OQTF may allow a voluntary-departure period, normally thirty days, or may be issued without such a period where the statutory conditions are met. It may also be accompanied by a ban on returning to France (IRTF).
Does marriage to a French citizen protect against an OQTF?
This is the central issue, and the answer changed in 2024.
Before the reform, certain categories, including spouses of French nationals and parents of French children, benefited from statutory protection preventing an OQTF in specified circumstances.
Since the 2024 reform, those automatic protections have largely been removed from the OQTF regime. Being married to a French citizen or being the parent of a French child does not, by itself, prevent the prefect from issuing an OQTF.
That does not leave the person without protection. The administration and the administrative court must still assess whether removal would disproportionately interfere with the person's private and family life, notably under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
OQTF and administrative expulsion are different measures
An OQTF should not be confused with an administrative expulsion order. Expulsion is a separate public-order measure governed by Articles L. 631-1 and following of the CESEDA and subject to different statutory protections.
Certain spouses of French nationals and parents of French children continue to benefit from enhanced protection against expulsion, depending on the duration and reality of their family ties and the seriousness of the public-order grounds. Those protections do not automatically prevent an OQTF.
Residence rights as the spouse of a French national
Independently of the OQTF litigation, a foreign national married to a French citizen may qualify for a residence permit where the statutory conditions are satisfied.
Article L. 423-1 of the CESEDA
This provision concerns a foreign national married to a French citizen where:
- the shared married life continues;
- the spouse retains French nationality;
- where the marriage took place abroad, it has been transcribed into the French civil-status records.
The permit is generally a one-year private-and-family-life residence card and can be renewed if the conditions remain satisfied.
Evidence to prepare
The prefecture examines the reality of the relationship carefully. Useful evidence may include:
- the marriage certificate;
- joint tenancy or housing documents;
- joint bills and official correspondence;
- joint tax documents;
- other evidence of genuine shared family life.
Parent of a French child: what rights are available?
The residence-permit route
Under Article L. 423-7 of the CESEDA, the foreign parent of a French minor living in France may qualify for a private-and-family-life residence permit where they establish an effective contribution to the child's maintenance and upbringing for the required period.
Evidence of involvement in the child's life is therefore central. Depending on the circumstances, Article L. 423-8 may also be relevant where parentage was established by acknowledgement.
Protection against expulsion
The parent of a French child may also benefit from enhanced protection against administrative expulsion under Article L. 631-2 where the statutory conditions are met. Again, this is protection against expulsion, not an automatic bar to an OQTF.
Can I marry in France while subject to an OQTF?
Yes. The right to marry is a fundamental right and is not made conditional on holding lawful immigration status. A town hall cannot refuse a marriage solely because one of the future spouses is subject to an OQTF.
However, marriage does not automatically suspend or cancel an existing OQTF. The removal measure must be challenged or otherwise dealt with through the appropriate legal route. A genuine married life and the resulting family ties may become important evidence in that process.
How can the OQTF be challenged?
OQTF litigation is governed by strict deadlines.
Current appeal periods
- Ordinary procedure: generally one month from notification.
- House arrest: generally seven days.
- Administrative detention: generally forty-eight hours.
A lawyer should be contacted as soon as the OQTF is received. Even the ordinary one-month period can pass quickly when evidence relating to family life must be assembled.
Arguments that may be raised
- Disproportionate interference with private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
- Unlawfulness of the underlying residence refusal.
- Insufficient reasons or procedural defects.
- Error in assessing the person's family and personal circumstances.
- Failure to take proper account of the best interests of a child where relevant.
What happens if the OQTF is enforced?
Leaving France does not necessarily make future lawful return impossible, but it can complicate the immigration position significantly, especially where an IRTF accompanies the OQTF.
A spouse of a French citizen who is abroad may in principle seek the appropriate long-stay visa to return lawfully where the conditions are met. An active IRTF can prevent entry until it has expired, been annulled or been revoked.
How can a lawyer help?
A French immigration lawyer can:
- review the OQTF and the residence decision on which it is based;
- identify the strongest family-life and residence arguments;
- prepare evidence relating to marriage, children and integration;
- file the court challenge within the applicable deadline;
- coordinate any separate residence-permit application;
- apply the statutory protections relating to domestic violence where relevant.
Key points
- Marriage to a French citizen or parenthood of a French child no longer provides an automatic statutory bar to an OQTF in the way it did before the 2024 reform.
- Family life remains central to the proportionality assessment and can provide powerful grounds of challenge.
- The residence routes for spouses of French citizens and parents of French children remain available where their own conditions are met.
- Expulsion and OQTF are different legal measures with different protections.
- The ordinary OQTF appeal deadline is generally one month, with shorter periods for house arrest and detention.
Fazolo Avocats assists individuals, couples and families with OQTF challenges, residence-permit applications and proceedings before the administrative courts.
