TEMPORARY RESIDENCE PERMIT FOR STUDENTS

Generalities
Where and when should you ask for it?
Conditions to obtain the permit

back

>>temporary residence permit for students

Conditions to obtain the permit

The residence permit application form : The student who carries out his first request for residence permit, or its renewal, must produce certain number of documents. As for obtaining the visa, he has to justify the object of the stay (his studies), of sufficient resources, a place of residence in France…

The exact list of details to be produced may vary from a prefecture to another, ask for information before.
You must present originals and supply a photocopy for each required document. The only originals which you are not obliged to produce are the identity cards or residence permits of the other persons (for an assumption of responsibility, for example). In that case only, a photocopy is enough.

All the documents presented to the prefecture should be drafted or translated into French.

To obtain the translation of your documents To obtain a legal translation in French of your documents (diplomas, birth certificates…), you have several possibilities : In your country : apply to the embassy or the Consulate of France which will indicate you the approved translators and can certify the translations. In France, apply to the city hall of your place of residence which will give you the list of the experts translators approved by the Court of Appeal and the members of the Company of experts translators - interpreters to this same court. You can also apply to the association Inter-Service-Migrants, which among other activities, has set up an excellent service of translations at very reasonable prices. For more details on this association, see later on. Contact : Inter-Service-Migrants-Traduction-Information (ISM-TI). 2/4, Cité de l'Ameublement, 75001 Paris. Tel. : 01 43 56 20 50. E-mail : ism.traduction@wanadoo.fr

Validity of the passport and residence permit The validity of temporary residence permits is limited to the validity of the passport. If this one expires soon, please, have it extended in your country before your arrival in France or by your consulate if you are already in France, before applying for a residence permit.

The object of your stay (studies)
You must produce a certificate of registration or pre-registration, or a student card delivered by a school or university in conformity with the French legislative and lawful provisions. The 3rd cycle students who would not yet have had the possibility to carry out their final registration must produce a letter from your DEA or doctorate director allowing you to register. If the program followed does not belong to a traditional cycle, the certificate will have to clarify the number of accreditation of the establishment, the nature of the program followed, the duration of the registration, the schedule and the number of weekly classes and prove the payment of at least a quarter of school fees.

Resources
For the first request for residence permit, you usually must produce the documents required to obtain the visa and signed up by the consulate. If you do not have these docuemnts, you will produce the documents mentioned below, as the students who ask for a renewal.

The grant holders
They must produce a grant certificate of (on headed notepaper of the organization granting it) indicating the amount and the duration of the benefit. If you are a grant holder of the French government or your government, this certificate will be enough to justify that you have enough resources, whatever the amount of the grant.
Students without any grant
The amount required is of 425 euros a month, for the 10 months of the academic year, from September till June, that is 4 250 euros a year.
It has been defined by a circular of the Ministry of Social Affairs (N 85-196 of August 1st, 1985) concerning the conditions of the stay of the foreign students : it corresponds to 70 % of the monthly basic allowance paid to the grant holders of the French government for an academic year.
If you are accommodated free of charge, inform the prefecture (lodging certificate). The amount required will be lowered (about 225 euros a month).
The student will have generally several possibilities to prove that his resources are sufficient (pledges supplied by persons living in France, guarantees from the country of origin, the bank guarantees, salaries…).

Students under a relative's responsibility in France
The documents required are :
a certificate of responsibility for a period of the academic year signed by the guarantor. You can ask for a model for this type of certificate to the consular authorities. Your guarantor can also get it directly with the service of reception of the foreign students of a prefecture. You can also download it on the Web site of certain prefectures (for example on the site of the prefecture of the Seine Saint-Denis : www.seine-saint-denis.pref.gouv.fr/P1F-dem.htm) ;
the photocopy of the valid ID card of the guarantor (ID card or passport if he/she is French, residence permit if he/she is foreign) ;
documentary evidence proving the solvency of the guarantor: the pay slips (or the annual balance sheet of its professional activity if he is a freelance worker) and his last tax notice. The guarantor must have sufficient resources to be able to take care of you. The salary must be between three and four times the amount which he is ready to put at your disposal (+ about 400 euros a person for the other persons living with you : children…).
Note : if your resources come from your parents living in France, there will be no control of their incomes. You will produce only the certificate of assumption of responsibility filled and signed (by clarifying the family link), the photocopy of residence permit of the parents with a record of civil status or your birth certificate.

The resources of the student come from abroad, usually, a relative
In this case, the documents required are :
the certificate of the person in your country who will give you the amount of money required for a period of the academic year. This certificate must be drafted in French (or translated) with the signature of the person. You can ask for a model of this form (commitment of payment of fund) to the foreign student service of the prefecture ;
a justification of opened account in a credit institution by which will receive the sums sent to you (international mandates, credit transfers…).

The students who work can produce as documentary evidence his contract of employment and his pay slips as well as the provisional authorization of work delivered by the services of main-d'œuvre étrangère (foreign workforce) (except for the foreigners exempted). For further information on your rights and obligations see the chapter " get more money " in the third part of the guide.

Some prefectures accept as documentary evidence of resources a sum, deposited on a current account in France to the name of the student, to cover the expenses of the year of studies (about 4 250 euros). The origin of capital can be asked (work, traveller's checks, transfers of the foreigner…).

Residence in France
Then again, two possibilities :
If you live in a hall of residence, you must produce a certificate from the Director on headed notepaper.
If you live at your own place you must produce your last invoice of gas, electricity, sometimes the leasing agreement or the act of property, the house insurance contract, the rent receipt.
If you are accommodated by an individual the documents required are :
- a certificate of residence established by the lodging-house keeper. You can ask for a model of this form the prefecture with the service of the foreign students ; this model can be also downloaded on the Web site of certain prefectures (for example, the site of the prefecture of the Seine Saint-Denis : www.seine-saint-denis.pref.gouv.fr/P1F-dem.htm ;
- the photocopy of the valid ID card of the lodging-house keeper (ID card or passport if he/she is French, residence permit if he/she is foreign) ;
- the documentary evidence of place of residence to the name of the lodging-house keeper (act of property or leasing agreement, last receipt of gas, electricity…).

Social Security coverage
During your stay of studies in France, you must benefit from a social coverage which covers your accidents or disease. If it is not always required for the first request for residence permit it will be necessarily required for the renewals. To know about which type of social welfare you can benefit according to your situation (age…), refer to the chapter " Cheers " Of the third part of the guide.
You may have to produce :
if you benefit from the French Social Security : your national insurance card or the payment of the Social Security subscription proved by your student card or a certificate of affiliation in the student regime or a certificate proving you are an eligible party of a Social Security beneficiary or a personal insurance certificate validated by the Urssaf ;
if you do not benefit from the French Social Security : an individual insurance certificate with a private or mutualist organization ;
the EU nationals can produce one of the forms (E 106, E 109, E 111, E 121 or E 128) delivered by the health services in their country or a certificate of affiliation to a government-regulated insurance scheme or of private health insurance of their country.

Passport photos
The number of passport photos required varies from a prefecture to another. They must be recent, of 3,5 X 4,5 cm size (no special CV mini-photos). You must appear full face and bareheaded. Opt for the black and the white, the prefectures prefer. Certain students count on machines in the prefectures, to make their photos. It is a bad strategy : if the machine is out of order (it may happen!) it will be necessary you to look around for another place to make your photos and waste one day !

If the examination of your file is refused If for some reason, as you present a complete residence permit file, the examination of it is refused, you must ask for an written and motivated notification of refusal. Otherwise, contact quickly a association which will advise you on the procedure to follow in this situation (see the Address book).

First request only
You must fill the form for the OMI (Office of the international migrations) you were given by the prefecture (except students from the European Union) and to enclose it to your file. During the year, you will receive a notification for medical examination. Since 1999, this compulsory visit has been free.
After the medical examination, you will be delivered a certificate which you will keep carefully. You will have to join it to your request for residence permit for the first renewal.

Specific provisions for the renewal
" Seriousness and reality " of the studies
The Sauvé circular from October 29, 1991 (from the Ministry of the Interior) stipulates that the prefectorial services to make sure that " the person concerned can be reasonably considered as continuing studies in France must check that the applicant intends to dedicate his time mainly to the his studies in France and that he does not take advante of his student's status his student's quality to work and earn money. " It confirms the previous circulars concerning the stay of the foreign students in France.
But there was a shift in meaning as now the services of prefectures have the power " to control the reality and the seriousness of the studies made by the foreign student " when renewing his residence permit. This right to examine the programmes of the studies was until then only the prerogative of the educational authorities; this should not have changed. Henceforth the decision of an university or school to accept a registration or a re-registration to a student does not constitute any more a sufficient condition for the prefectorial authorities.

" Repeated failures must lead you, in the absence of any explanation, to consider that the foreigner has lost his status of student ".
The prefecture can so reject a request for renewal of the residence permit due to repeated failures, and in its eyes, unjustified changes of orientation and insufficiently motivated reorientation to a lower level. The French students have a right to make mistakes that is more and more limited for the foreign students.

To prove the " seriousness and the reality " of your studies, the prefecture will ask you to produce a list of the studies followed since the entrance in France and your projects of studies for the next years. But it can also demand that you produce all the documents relative to the past studies : diplomas, certificate of participation in the exams or attendance in the classes (courses), school reports…
Some advice : be careful when changing in your school courses. If you failed several times at the university or if your programme may be considered " nonsense " (change of orientation, registration at a lower level…), seek for the support of your teachers or your establishment, support letters…, to avoid any refusal of your permit renewal. Do not hesitate to ask for advice from associations (see the Address book).
Keep all the documentary evidence of events with a decisive incidence on your university results (disease or accident, death of a member of your family…).

Resources of the past year
In addition to the documentary evidences of resources for the academic year to come, the prefectorial services can, for a permit renewal, wield a control on your resources of the past year. This practice is not systematic every year, nor in all the prefectures.
But if it was the case, you would have to produce any document justifying the sums from which you benefited, notably your bank statements or a recapitulative certificate drawn up by your bank. If, your resources come from abroad, avoid cash payments and keep carefully all the possible " proofs " : statement of bank transfer, personal exchange contracts, mandates…
Mind the jobs you could have had without any working license (baby-sitting, courses of school support…). It is about illegal work and if it appears on your bank statements, you can have problems and be refused your permit renewal.

Anguish when renewing the permit Tenboukti Abdallah, 32, Algerian, PhD in Immunology. " It has been four years since I arrived in France and I started to follow studies in immunology in 3rd cycle. In six months, I have to come back definitively to Algeria. In spite of the critical situation in which my country is at the present, my fondest wish is to return to be able to put into practice what I have learnt here. This year, for the last time, and it is a deep relief for me, I must go to the prefecture to renew my residence permit. It is, no doubt, the only unpleasant memory which I shall take from France. Indeed, each year, I had to carry out the same procedure. The nearer I was drawing the prefecture, the more I felt distressed : will I obtain my permit or not ? Each year, the same file was weighed down by new requirements. Each year, the same inhuman treatment. I will never understand this attitud. Why did they give me a student visa if once in France everything is made, and it with a certain eagerness, to put me in a precarious situation ? I remember in January, 1994, they intended to refuse me the renewal of my residence permit for the simple reason that I had not been able to obtain my DEA, because of health trouble. I had to fight and show medical certificates to prove that I was not lying. All this in vain. I felt humiliated. Being myself a doctor, the blow was even harder. I finally spoke about it to my research director who was kind enough to accompany me to the prefecture to give evidence of the truthfulness of my comments and to interfere in my favour. Today I remain convinced that, without the support of my supervisor, my stay in France would have brutally interrupted. Sometimes I wonder how many foreign students have had their dream broken. It is really necessary to be of good composition and to have solid convictions to avoid the worst. "

Students from the EU : The EU students, like the other foreign students, must ask for a residence permit if they wish to stay in France more than three months for their studies. Although the prefectorial authorities show more flexibility in their respect, one observes that many of them do not worry to carry out these formalities, mostly due to the lack of information. It is true that, as they do not have to produce of visa for their entrance in France, they have no anxiety in case of identity check. Nothing indicates, indeed, the date of their entrance in France, or the motive or the duration of their stay.
The list of documents to be produced is about the same as for the other foreign students. There are significant exceptions however :
they do not have to produce of visa of long stay for studies. The passport or the identity card is enough ;
they do not have to spend the medical examination of the OMI, nor so to fill the form which is intended for it ;
for the resources and the social coverage, an affidavit is enough.

Summary table of documents to be produced for obtaining of the residence permit (check the exact list with your prefecture)
First request Passport (or ID card for nationals of the EEE) with photocopies of the pages where appear : nationality, name, validity and, except in case of exemption, the long stay visa for studies. A birth certificate and a recent birth and marriage certificate. If the foreign spouse of the student lives in France, do join a photocopy of his residence permit (or visa). Justification of studies : student card or registration certificate or preliminary registration certificate. Justification of sufficient means of existence for the academic year to come, by one of the following documents : Certificate of grant (scholarship). Documentary evidence of a coverage by a person living in France. Documentary evidence of resources from abroad. Documentary evidence of work. A recent bank statement with a sufficient amount of money. Justification of a place of residence in France, by one of the following means : Certificate of residence in a university campus or a home (foyer). Documentary evidence of residence by a third part. Documentary evidence of a personal residence. Justification of a social coverage, by one of the following means (sometimes asked for the renewal only) : Documentary evidence of the membership to the French Social Security. Documentary evidence of a personal insurance to a private body. For the students of the EEE, possibility of producing the E128 form + Request form of medical supervision of the OMI (except for nationals of the European Union). Passport photos : New, full-face, bareheaded, in black and white, size 3,5 x 4,5 cm.	Renewal Passport (or ID card for nationals of the EEE) with photocopies of the pages where appear : nationality, name and validity. A photocopy of the last residence permit Birth certificate, recent birth and marriage certificate. If the foreign spouse of the student lives in France, do join a photocopy of his residence permit (or visa). Justification of studies : student card or registration certificate or preliminary registration certificate. And of course, any document concerning the studies of the past year : diploma (s), attendance certificate for the exams, marks… Justification of sufficient means of existence for the academic year to come, by one of the following documents : Certificate of grant. Documentary evidence of a coverage by a person living in France. Documentary evidence of resources from abroad. Documentary evidence of work. A recent bank statement with a sufficient amount of money. And all documentary evidence of resources of the past year : statements or recapitulative banking certificates, exchange, certificate of transfers, mandates… Justification of a place of residence in France, by one of the following means : Certificate of place of residence in a university campus or a home (foyer). Documentary evidence of residence by a third part. Documentary evidence of a personal residence. Justification of a social coverage, by one of the following means (sometimes asked for the renewal only) : Documentary evidence of the membership to the French Social Security. Documentary evidence of a personal insurance to a private body. For the students of the EEE, possibility of producing the E111 form. For the first renewal : the medical certificate delivered after the control of the OMI (except for nationals of the European Union). Passport photos : New, full-face, bareheaded, in black and white, size 3,5 x 4,5 cm.

Receiving your residence permit : The period of delivery of the permit can vary from a prefecture to another, from some days to a month or more. It often depends on the period of the year : at the start of the academic year, a period when the volume of requests is the larger, the delay can be longer.
In certain cases, the foreign student is delivered, after depositing his request file, a receipt which is worth license of stay for a duration indicated on it and which can not be less than a month. The student is then asked to come and remove his temporary residence permit.
Parisian students indicate that the residence permit is sometimes delivered the very day of deposit of file. Lucky but rare !
Be careful : a receipt is not a permit but a documentary evidence of a permit request. Regular stay on the territory only will be taken into account in the duration of the stay if the residence permit request is finally accepted. It does not sourt out, in particular, the conditions of entrance in France, especially when the student does not have any visa of long stay with the " student " mention (except for those with the refugee status).

You are in big trouble ? How must you react? We hope that none of our readers needs one day to use the following information. This should be the case if you follow the advice which we give you in this guide and if you try hard, in any circumstances, to respect the very complex French legislation. When you have a doubt, always start by getting information from the competent organization or with recognized associations (see the Address section). However it is important to have a minimum of information to be able to react appropriately in case of serious problems : First general principle : never act alone, in particular if you must formulate an appeal in front of a jurisdiction. Associations - and if need be a lawyer - are there to help you. Be careful and choose a good one. Three types of measures can be taken against a foreigner by the prefectorial services or by the Ministry of the Interior : the invitation to leave the French territory (IQF), the escorting to the frontier and the deportation. Of these three measures, the first - the IQF - is the one chosen when a foreigner is refused the renewal of his resident permit and so the one that is the most likely to be notified to a student. The most frequent reasons for the refusal of renewal are the following ones : lack of seriousness and reality in the studies (repeated failures, unjustified orientation change…) ; exercise of a wage-earning work without temporary working license (see on this subject the chapter " Working in France " in the third part of the guide) ; insufficient resources. The foreign student has a period of two months to attack a refusal of permit renewal in front of the administrative court. The best solution in that case is to contact as quickly as possible an association which will bring you its support and will tell you about the procedure. You must know however, that before reaching this extreme point, the prefecture often adopts a " more diplomatic " method : requirement of a file complement and a interview with the student who has the possibility to explain his situation... To know more about the appeals in case of refusal of a visa or a residence permit, you can buy the legal exercise book The rights of the foreign students, published in September, 2000 by the GISTI .

The residence permits adopt a new image : For some years, the prefecture of Paris has replaced in the former plasticized residence permit with a residence permit in the form of a self-adhesive logo affixed directly on a page of the passport (following the example of the visa).
The experiment began in Paris with the foreign students. The argument stated for this change is to prevent the forgery of the permits. One can however regret that the first chosen guinea pigs are the suspected students.
Furthermore, the new system, besides the fact that it permits the prefecture to save money, poses some problems to the students. If the student loses or is stolen his passport, one can imagine his situation as his residence is lost or stolen too. He finds himself then without any documentary evidence of his identity.
Add to this, finally, that since January, 2000, residence permit have been free. Whatever their nationality, the students do not have to buy any excise stamp any more.

Such a precious passport Subida WARGUI, 30, Morrocan, Faculté d'Economie Appliquée, DEA. " I often cant an eye in my handbag, to get sure that my passport is always there. I can't help it. It is almost an obsession. I need to check that I have not lost it. I do it several times a day. On the street. In the subway. At the university. I constantly live in the fear of having lost or forgotten it. For some years, the residence permity is stuck on one of the pages of my passport. This system obliges us to move with both documents, passport and residence permit, from now on inextricable. I remember that one day I lost this invaluable document. I suddenly found myself at the same moment without permit and without passport. It was terrible. I was to start not only a procedure with the Embassy but also with the prefecture. As the Consulate was short passport, they delivered me a temporary certificate. The prefecture, as for it, demanded a real passport to include the permit in it. A true vicious circle! I will not get in the details of the trial to obtain again this unique document where passport and permit are gathered. Since then, I have often left my passport at home because I prefer one thousand times to take the risk of an identity check and even a temporary detention, for the moment a relative goes and take my passport rather than to experience again such a four-month bad adventure. "