Apply for stateless person status
What is statelessness?
According to the New York Convention of 28 September 1954, the term stateless person shall apply to :
[...] a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law.
How to apply for stateless person status in France ?
Submitting the request
Any foreigner who wishes to claim stateless person status must contact Ofpra directly by post to request the statelessness application form. This request must be written in French and specify the full name and address of the applicant.
The form submitted to Ofpra must be completed in French. Where the application is submitted complete, Ofpra registers it and issues a registration certificate to the applicant. You must detail the precise reasons for your application.
A stateless person status application form will be sent to you by Ofpra. You will need to complete it in French, sign it and attach two identity photographs. If you have them, you will also need to attach your travel document, your civil status documents and a copy of your valid French residence document.
Where the application is submitted complete, Ofpra registers it and issues a registration certificate to the applicant.
Please note ! Prefectures are not required to grant temporary leave to remain to statelessness applicants. The procedures to which asylum seekers are subject do not therefore apply to such applicants.
The application's examination
The status of stateless person cannot just be presumed. It must be established in light of all its determining criteria by sufficiently precise and serious evidence.
When Ofpra examines the statelessness application, it gathers together – particularly, and where applicable, through an interview – all of the information that will enable it to determine the different countries to which the foreigner may be "attached". It is then possible to consider the extent to which the applicant could benefit from the nationality of each of these States. It is within Ofpra's power to question the competent foreign authorities about the foreigner's legal relationship to their State.
Where the application leads to stateless person status being granted, the applicant is placed under Ofpra's legal and administrative protection. Their personal circumstances (married, divorced, etc.) and administrative status (residence, right to move around) are henceforth governed by French law.
The prefecture will issue you a multi-year residence permit marked "beneficiary of stateless person status" for a maximum period of four years. At the end of the four years, you can apply for the issue of a residence card valid for 10 years. You can apply for family reunification.
Appeal remedies
Where the application is refused, the applicant has the option of appealing this decision within two months before the administrative court of his/her place of residence when the application was submitted.
Appeal before an administrative court against a refusal to recognise stateless person status does not have suspensory effect. Where the foreigner is subject to a deportation measure, the Prefecture may execute this even though the administrative court has not yet ruled on the appeal.
Please note ! The National Asylum Court (Cour Nationale du Droit d’Asile/CNDA) is not competent to examine stateless person claims.