The first civil status documents are drawn up after the reference family file has been processed and, where applicable, after receipt of additional information requested by the Ofpra.
The reconstitution of the civil status and the issuance of the first acts is a procedure that takes a little time. It is your responsibility to respond, by post only, to any request for additional information from the Ofpra.
There is no need to go to the Ofpra or call it again to obtain these first documents more quickly.
The civil status documents drawn up by the Ofpra have the value of authentic documents.
Ofpra can only rectify material omissions and errors. In other cases, you should contact:
Tribunal de PARIS
Parvis du tribunal
Section AC1 - État civil
75 859 PARIS CEDEX 17
From 1 January 2019, the asylum application presented at a one-stop shop by a foreign national who is in France accompanied by his minor children is considered to be presented in his name and in that of his children.
- If your child was in France when you registered your asylum application
Your children will be placed under the protection of the Ofpra at the same time as you, either under refugee status or under subsidiary protection.
- If your child has joined you in France after the registration of your asylum application
Your child benefits, without applying for asylum, from a right of residence as soon as he arrives in France, which will be confirmed to him at his majority by the issue of a residence permit.
However, you have the option, if you wish in view of their personal situation, of registering an asylum application in their name. To do this, you must accompany him to the prefecture. The Ofpra cannot be contacted directly.
- If your child was placed under the protection of the Ofpra before 1 January 2019
The Ofpra no longer issues administrative certificates.
If your children were placed under the protection of Ofpra when they were minors, a letter attesting to their international protection can be requested from Ofpra, only by post to the following address:
Ofpra
Pôle Protection
201 Carnot Street
94 136 Fontenay-sous-Bois Cedex
For more information on the status of minors in general (children of refugees or beneficiaries of subsidiary protection, children of stateless persons), you can consult the page "Civil status documents / Minors".
If you wish to leave France to travel, a travel document called a travel document for foreigner (Titre de voyage pour étranger) may be granted to you. It must be requested from the prefecture of your place of residence.
This document allows you to travel to all countries except your country or countries of origin due to your fears.
If you are stateless, you can travel to your country or countries of origin.
You can get more information on this page of the public service website.
As a protected person, insofar as you have fears in your country, you are not authorized to return there.
If you are stateless, you can travel to your country or countries of origin.
In certain cases of imperative necessity, persons placed under the protection of the Office may be required to return to their country of origin. You must request a safe-conduct from the prefecture of your place of residence.
The latter has the option of seeking the opinion of the Ofpra on the feasibility of such a return with regard to the risks incurred.
If you feel that you no longer have fears in your country of origin, you can waive your protection.
You must request the rectification of your residence permit from the prefecture. If the Ofpra has issued you with an equivalence certificate, you must present it.
You must contact the French embassy or consulate in the country in which you wish to get married.
As soon as you return to France, the registration of this marriage by the Ofpra will be done at your express request and by the production of the following documents:
- the certificate of capacity to marry (this document must be requested from the French consular authorities in the country in which the marriage is to take place, before the marriage takes place)
- formal proof of appearance before the foreign authority having celebrated the marriage (photocopy of the travel document with the entry and exit stamps of the country of celebration of the marriage);
- the copie of the foreign marriage certificate with, where applicable, a translation certified by a sworn translator, as well as a photocopy of both sides of this act and, where applicable, of its translation.
Ofpra may refuse any application for registration of a marriage celebrated abroad which is not accompanied by the required documents and which has not complied with these formalities. You must therefore plan to obtain from the authorities of the place of celebration of your marriage a residence permit long enough to comply with the procedure.
To request registration with Ofpra of a marriage celebrated abroad, you must complete this form and return it to Ofpra by post, along with the required documents.
Finally, insofar as the marriage was celebrated in a third country where you have no fears, you have the possibility of obtaining copies of your marriage certificate from the authorities of this country. The Ofpra therefore does not draw up the marriage certificate and does not issue a family record book, a document based on such a certificate.
You must approach the town hall of the place where you wish to get married and comply with the formalities that the French civil status officer will indicate to you.
N.B. : Ofpra does not issue custom certificate for refugees. It is not required anyomore to get married in France.
Under no circumstances should the French civil registrar approach the authorities of the State from which you originate, nor invite you to do so.
If you wish to divorce in France, you must do so through a lawyer who will take the necessary steps.
The divorce, when pronounced in France, will be registered by the Ofpra on production of the divorce document and the documents attesting to the definitive nature of the latter.
Divorces pronounced abroad can only be registered by the Office after having been examined for enforceability and compliance with French public order by the Paris public prosecutor's office. You should contact the Ofpra by post at the following address:
Ofpra / Pôle de la Protection
201 rue Carnot
94136 Fontenay-sous-Bois Cedex
The Ofpra will directly seek the opinion of the Paris public prosecutor's office.
I am between 16 and 18 years old, I arrived as a minor in France with my parents, who have been recognized as refugees or have obtained the benefit of subsidiary protection and I want to apply for a residence permit and keep my status.
If you wish to continue to benefit from the protection of the Ofpra, no action is necessary with the Ofpra. You will simply have to go to the prefecture to obtain a residence permit, with the letter from the Ofpra attesting to your protection.
If, on the other hand, you no longer wish to benefit from this protection, you must inform the Ofpra by post (or ask your parents to do this on your behalf if you are still a minor). The prefecture will then issue you a residence permit for common law foreigners.
Ofpra normally issued this document to you at the same time as your birth certificate if there are differences between the documents issued by the French authorities during the asylum procedure and this birth certificate. If this has not been the case, the request should only be made by post to the following address:
Ofpra
Pôle Protection
201 rue Carnot
94136 Fontenay-sous-Bois Cedex
Attention ! This document is issued only once.
The Ofpra will issue you a family booklet in the following cases:
- You are married and the Ofpra has issued the marriage certificate. In this case, the Ofpra issues a family booklet based on the marriage certificate. Only children residing in France and from this union can be registered in this booklet: for children born in your country of origin, the Ofpra will register them in the family booklet; for children born in France, it is the town hall of the place of birth that will register them in the booklet.
- You are not married and have children born abroad and residing in France. In this case, the Ofpra can issue a family booklet and register the children present in France.
Attention ! The Ofpra does not issue a family booklet in the following cases:
- You got married in France. It is up to the town hall of the place of celebration of the marriage to draw up a family record book or to complete the family record book previously issued by the Office with an extract from the marriage certificate.
- You are not married and your children were born in France or the only children present in France are those born on French territory. It is then the town hall of the place of birth of the first child, born in France, which is competent to establish the family book. The request for the issue of a family record book must be sent to this town hall or to that of the place of residence. The booklet will then be completed by the Ofpra with an extract from the birth certificate of the parent(s).
- You are not married and have children born and residing abroad. The French authorities are not competent. The Ofpra or the French town halls cannot therefore issue a family booklet.
When the marriage was celebrated in a third country after the granting of protective status, the Ofpra or the French town halls cannot issue a family record book.
To obtain civil status documents after acquiring French nationality, you must contact:
Service central d’état civil
11 rue de la Maison Blanche
44 941 NANTES CEDEX 09
You can explain in writing your personal motivations on which the waiver of protective status is based.
A notice and a waiver form (available on Ofpra website : Civil status documents / My online procedures) must be completed, signed and should be sent to the Ofpra by mail : renonciation[a]ofpra.gouv.fr or by post, to the following address: Ofpra / Division de la Protection 1 - 201 rue Carnot - 94136 Fontenay-sous-Bois Cedex - France.
Attention ! Renunciation of the benefit of protection may lead to the withdrawal of the residence permit. In this case, the prefectural authority decides on the new right of residence. In principle, you will need to be able to present a valid national passport.
Ofpra is not competent in matters of family reunification (réunification familiale): the members of your family concerned must submit a visa application to the French consular authorities in the country in which they reside (or the nearest country, in the event that there is no French embassy or consular representation in their country). The family reunification visa application can be submitted by your family as soon as you obtain protection, i.e. even if your marital status has not yet been established.
The Ofpra can then be contacted by the consular authorities to transmit to the refugee families office the family composition of the refugee, the stateless person or the beneficiary of subsidiary protection.
The refugee families office helps the consular authority to check the validity of your residence permit and the composition of your family, as declared to the Ofpra. You therefore do not have to ask the Ofpra for a letter attesting to your family composition.
A protected person can request to bring to France:
- their spouse/partner/partner with whom they are bound by a civil union, when the marriage or union predates the date on which the person filed the application following which they obtained protection;
- the couple's children who are at most 19 years old at the time of submitting the visa application;
- his minor children aged 18 and those of his spouse, whose filiation is only established with regard to him or that of his spouse, or whose other parent is deceased or deprived of his parental rights;
- his children under the age of 18 and those of his spouse, who are entrusted, as the case may be, to one or the other, under the exercise of parental authority, by virtue of a decision of a foreign jurisdiction;
- if the refugee or the beneficiary of subsidiary protection is an unmarried minor, he can request to benefit from his right to be joined by his direct ascendants in the first degree.
You will find more information on the procedure by consulting the leaflet on family reunification available on the website : Civil status documents / Family reunification.
Please note, for marriages after the asylum application has been submitted, this is an application for regroupement familial. You should contact the French Office for Immigration and Integration (OFII) with territorial jurisdiction about the procedure.
My children were born abroad, live in France and are not asylum seekers. How to register them on the family record book?
You can request the registration in the family record book of your children born abroad who reside in France and who are not asylum seekers, by completing the dedicated form entitled "Demande d'inscription sur le livret de famille établi par l'Ofpra d'un acte de naissance pour un enfant né à l'étranger" (Request for registration of a birth certificate for a child born abroad in the family record book issued by Ofpra), which can be downloaded from the Protection & Civil Status section - My online procedures.
You must contact the prefecture. Ofpra will not be able to establish a certificate of equivalence between the identity it has retained and that appearing on a foreign driving license. The certificate of equivalence only concerns the identity retained by the Office and certain French administrative documents.
You must check with the prefecture of your place of residence. You can also get more information on the utility's website.