France orders ANEF to fix residence portal within 6 months

What the court ordered ANEF to fix

France’s Conseil d’État ordered the state to correct major problems with the ANEF residence-permit portal within 6 months, after finding that repeated malfunctions were blocking foreigners from completing stay and work procedures. The ruling, issued May 5, says the Interior Ministry failed to provide an effective remedy for users facing recurring technical breakdowns.

The court also set a 12-month deadline for one feature: ANEF must let applicants file multiple residence-permit requests, either at the same time or one after another, when they have different legal grounds.

Who feels the impact

The order affects expats, students, workers and employers who depend on ANEF for residence-permit renewals and other stay-related filings. The court said the failures could seriously affect rights, including the right to work, when permits expire while applications are still stuck in the system.

Employers in France have also been caught in the middle when staff can't get timely interim documents. The ruling gives more weight to temporary attestation papers that keep applicants in status during processing.

What changes by the deadlines

Within 6 months, the state must make ANEF able to issue renewal attestations on time, state clearly what rights they grant and let users report errors, correct personal data and finish incomplete files. It must also keep access working when the portal breaks, including backup channels when online filing fails.

Within 12 months, ANEF must accept multiple requests tied to different permit grounds. Read our full France guide for the complete picture and check our visa updates page for more coverage.