A new report by the rights organisation Défenseur des Droits has highlighted growing problems for foreigners in France in dealing with administration – with difficulties renewing a carte de séjour cited as the number one issue.
The rights organisation Défenseur des Droits received a record number of reports in 2025 – 165,011 in total – and 45 percent of those were from foreigners in France.
Last year, 50,000 foreigners contacted the rights organisation for help with issues around immigration admin – up from just 6,000 in 2019.
The number one issue for foreigners was problems in renewing their carte de séjour residency permit, according to DD head Claire Hédon, who said that 77 percent of all calls from foreigners relate to problems in renewing their card.
Excessive delays in processing a request, malfunctions in the online residency card platform ANEF and overwhelmed préfecture services were the main problems cited.
Hédon said: “Every year, thousands of foreign nationals are placed, against their will, in an irregular immigration situation, even though they previously held a residence permit.”
Défenseur des Droits replaced the Médiateur de la République in 2011 and acts as an advocacy service for people facing difficulties with French officialdom. It focuses on five main areas: discrimination, problems for users of public services, child protection, security service ethics and the protection of whistleblowers.
Its latest annual report highlights growing exclusion from public services due to processes moving online to websites that are often glitchy and bug-filled – such as the ANEF platform, which is used for many immigration processes.
The report comes after Interior Minister Laurent Nunez admitted that waiting times at préfectures to have a residency permit renewed are “unacceptable”, and promised changes to the system as well as extra staff to try and tackle the problem.
READ ALSO: Tell us: Have you experienced delays in getting or renewing a carte de séjour in France?✎
