Online procedures

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.

If you need a civil status certificate or a custom certificate, you can request them from the Ofpra. (See the section “I am a refugee / beneficiary of subsidiary protection / stateless person, how to obtain…”).

Under no circumstances should the French civil registrar approach the authorities of the State from which you originate, nor invite you to do so.

... a certificate of celibacy?

The Ofpra does not issue a certificate of celibacy, but only a certificate of custom, which certifies your ability to marry. It specifies that you are subject to French personal law, that is to say that you must respect French law with regard to marriage, for example.

... a custom certificate?

The Ofpra issues a certificate of custom to protected persons who wish to marry. It also issues certificates within the framework of certain administrative formalities.

The certificate of custom makes it possible to certify that you are subject to French personal law, that is to say that you must respect French law with regard to marriage, for example.

 It also issues certificates within the framework of certain administrative formalities. This custom certificate has no time limit.

An application form for the issuance of a certificate of custom is available for download on the Ofpra website (See: Civil status document - My online procedures). This document must be completed and sent to the Ofpra only by post to the following address:

OFPRA
Pôle Protection
201 rue Carnot
94 136 Fontenay-sous-Bois Cedex

... an administrative certificate?

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 rue Carnot
94 136 Fontenay-sous-Bois Cedex

... an extract from the criminal record?

The Ofpra does not issue an extract from the criminal record, but only a certificate specifying that its holder cannot contact the authorities of his country of origin for facts that occurred prior to the recognition of international protection.

For facts subsequent to recognition, the protected person must contact the national criminal records service in Nantes.

... a certificate of maintaining the status?

The maintenance certificate has been removed since 13 May 2016. You can certify that your protection is up-to-date by producing a copy of your birth certificate issued by the Ofpra, which you can request on our website.

If you have not received your civil status documents established by Ofpra, you can produce the decision of the Ofpra or the National Court of Asylum Right recognizing you as a refugee or the accompanying letter if you have been granted subsidiary protection.

... a refugee certificate?

Since 1 January 2004, Ofpra no longer issues a refugee certificate, the residence permit held by the refugee expressly mentioning the status of its holder. You cannot therefore be asked for such a document.

From then on, requests for refugee certificates, nor requests for duplicates or renewals of this document are no longer followed up.

... a marriage / birth / death certificate?

Once your first acts have been issued by the Ofpra, you can request copies directly on our website.

Tutorials have been made to help you complete the online application forms, if necessary.

A tracking number will be assigned to your online application which will allow you to track its progress.

Civil status certificates have no time limit. However, for a marriage or a PACS you will have to present a birth certificate of less than three months.

Ofpra is not competent in matters of family reunification: 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 Ofpra website.

Please note, for marriages after the asylum application has been submitted, this is an application for family reunification. 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 book of your children born abroad who reside in France and who are not asylum seekers, by sending their birth certificate (original and translation if necessary) by post. at the Ofpra:

OFPRA
Protection Division
201 Carnot Street
94 136 Fontenay-sous-Bois Cedex

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.

Since April 2015, Ofpra has set up an online procedure service on its website, allowing asylum seekers and protected persons to carry out various procedures: requests for birth, marriage or death certificates , reports of change of address, telephone number or e-mail address.

You can therefore request a birth / marriage / death certificate via the dedicated form on the Ofpra website.

To report a change of address / telephone number / e-mail address, you can do so via the dedicated form on the Ofpra website.

Tutorials have been made to help complete the online application forms, if needed.

In addition, you are invited to save the tracking number that will be assigned to your online request, in order to be able to follow its progress.

Several forms for protected persons are also available for download on the Ofpra website. They must be printed, completed and sent to the Ofpra only by post, possibly accompanied by the required supporting documents.

Any change of address / mobile phone number / email address must, throughout the asylum procedure and after, be reported to the Ofpra directly on its website.

Please note that this procedure requires you to be in possession of your Ofpra file number, which can be found on each letter sent by Ofpra, and is presented as follows:

Your request for access to administrative documents must be sent to the Legal, European and International Affairs Division (DAJEI) by post (Ofpra, 201 rue Carnot 94136 Fontenay-sous-Bois Cedex) or electronically to one of the following addresses according to its purpose:

• comacces@ofpra.gouv.fr for a request for communication of all or part of the file of an asylum seeker or stateless person, a beneficiary of international protection or his representative;
• acces.registration@ofpra.gouv.fr for a request for access to the audio recording of the interview under the conditions provided for in article L. 723-7 of the code for the entry and stay of foreigners and the right to asylum (CESEDA);
• prada@ofpra.gouv.fr for a request relating to any other administrative document.

The request must specify:

    Your contact details;
    The subject of the request;
    Any information likely to clarify the request.

The Ofpra has one month from receipt of your request to respond. The absence of a response within this period gives rise to an implicit decision of refusal.

In the event of difficulty in obtaining an administrative document or with regard to the reuse of public information, you can contact the person responsible for access to administrative documents at the contact details given below:

Mr. Johan ANKRI

Ofpra

201 rue Carnot

94136 Fontenay-sous-Bois Cedex

Email: prada@ofpra.gouv.fr

If you wish to contest an explicit or implicit decision of refusal, you must first file a compulsory preliminary appeal, within two months of the negative decision, before the commission for access to administrative conditions (CADA) before any referral to the administrative court. competent, according to the procedure provided for in Articles R. 343-1 to R. 343-5 of the CRPA.

You can request a copy of this decision only by post to the following address:

OFPRA

201 rue Carnot

94136 Fontenay-sous-Bois Cedex

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 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 (document issued by the French embassy or consulate in the country where the marriage took place) or the certificate of publication of the banns;
• 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, photocopy of the plane or train ticket);
• the original 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.

Attention ! The 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.

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 / Division 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.

Your connection identifier is your AGDREF number (indicated on your asylum application certificate).

A connection key is indicated on the instructions given to you in GUDA, which can only be used during your first connection; you must then define a permanent password.

If you have lost your password, you can regenerate it by entering your username and the connection key indicated on the notice (even if this is not your first connection to your User Space).

If you have also lost your connection key, you can request to receive it by text or email. Please note: this is only possible if you have already provided your details in the "Contact" tab of your User Area.

If you do not have a mobile phone number or an email address, you are invited to contact the SPADA or the accommodation center responsible for your support.

After registering my asylum application in GUDA, how quickly can I log in to activate my User Space?

You can activate your User Space at any time by using the username and key indicated on the notice that will be given to you at GUDA.

It is strongly recommended to activate your User Space within 24 hours of your appointment at GUDA.

Please note: your User Area will be closed by Ofpra at the end of your asylum procedure.

The notice given to you at GUDA includes your identifier (which is your AGDREF number) and a connection key; this key can be used for your first connection only.

During your first connection, you will have to create a password to access your User Space

Each time you log in, you are invited to update your contact information: phone number and email address. This information is necessary in order to inform you in real time of the documents which are deposited in your User Space. You can modify them in the "Contact" tab of your User Space.

How do I know if I am affected by the User Space after my visit to the prefecture / appointment at the GUDA?

If you are concerned by the User Space, a notice is given to you by the GUDA when you register your asylum application (or when you are no longer covered by the Dublin procedure).

You must sign this leaflet when it is given to you.

This notice specifies that Ofpra's letters will be notified to you by making these documents available in your User Area.

You are concerned by Ofpra secure personal digital space if you registered your asylum application or a new asylum application after July 15, 2020.

Attention : the User Area does not concern :

• applicants under the Dublin procedure
• unaccompanied minors
• people residing in Overseas territories

If you need help or if you encounter a difficulty, you can ask the people who accompany you in the asylum procedure (your accommodation center or the SPADA).

Even if you are free to read the documents put online by Ofpra in your User Area, you can ask the people who are accompanying you to explain the content of these documents and their meaning with regard to the procedure. 'asylum.