Maintaining a foreigner in a Transit Zone - Application for asylum

Verified 30 avril 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

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You can be placed in a waiting zone if you are a foreigner arriving in France by boat, train or plane and that you are seeking asylum at the border.

Warning  

This procedure does not concern a foreigner who is a national of European countrynor the members of his family living in France with him.

The waiting area is a well-defined space located

  • either at an airport (Roissy, Orly, etc.),
  • either in a port or close to a landing place (Marseille, Calais, etc.),
  • or in a railway station open to international traffic (Paris-Gare du Nord, Lille-Europe, Strasbourg, Nice, Modane, etc.).

A waiting area should not be confused with a detention centre.

The area extends from the points of embarkation and disembarkation to the points where passenger controls are carried out (bonded areas).

It also covers the places you have to go in the context of the holding procedure and in case of medical need (in court or in hospital for example).

Pending the decision on your situation, you can be accommodated in a specially equipped facility or in a hotel near your place of arrival.

Please note

If you arrive in a group (at least 10 foreigners) outside a border crossing point, you may be placed in a temporary mobile waiting area. You will then be transferred to a normal transit zone (attached to the nearest border point).

You stay in the waiting area for the time necessary for the following 3 points to be checked:

  • If the examination of your application falls within the competence of another State
  • If your application is not inadmissible
  • If your claim is not manifestly unfounded

The border police can keep you in a waiting area for 4 days maximum.

It is a written and reasoned decision. It mentions your rights and deadlines for appeal.

It also mentions your right to refuse to be repatriated before the end of the one-day period

It is subject to compulsory registration on a register mentioning your civil status and the date and time when the measure was taken notified.

The decision and notification of your rights are communicated to you in a language you understand.

When in the course of the examination of your asylum application, theOfpra: titleContent considers that your case is not compatible with holding in a waiting area, you are taken out of that area.

This is the case in particular:

  • If you are a minor
  • If you have been subjected to torture, rape or other serious psychological, physical or sexual violence

The administration grants you an 8-day regularization visa and gives you a certificate of asylum application.

Under what conditions is it possible to extend the duration of detention in transit zones?

Before the end of 4 days administrative maintenance, the administration can apply to the Judge of Liberty and Detention (JLD) to prolong your placement in a waiting zone.

The judge can then extend your placement in a waiting area for 8 days maximum.

The JLD of the court on which the waiting area depends, rules by ordinance within 24 hours of being entered (or within 48 hours if instructed to do so or if the holding involves a significant number of foreigners at the same time).

The order shall be notified to you, the Prefect and the public prosecutor.

The hearing may be held in the courtroom or in a room near the waiting area.

JLD can be entered for 2nd an extension that can only be granted in exceptional circumstances or in the event of your deliberate intention to frustrate your departure. This extension shall be 8 days maximum.

If the order ends your detention in a transit zone, you are, from the time of its notification, kept at the disposal of the court for 10 hours (unless the prosecutor decides otherwise).

During this period, you can, if you wish, contact your lawyer or any person of your choice and request the assistance of a doctor.

In total, the duration of your holding in a waiting area cannot exceed 20 days (4 days administrative support + 1re judicial extension of up to 8 days + 2nd judicial extension of up to 8 days).

Is there a possibility of appeal against the extension of the duration of detention in transit zones?

You can challenge the JLD order within 24 hours of its delivery.

You must enter the 1er president of the court of appeal (or his delegate).

He must then make a decision within 48 hours.

Your call isn't suspensive : you can be reappointed before the judge's decision.

Who shall I contact

Then, if you want to challenge the court of appeal order, you can to bring an action for cassation.

Who shall I contact

The rights differ depending on whether you are an unaccompanied minor or not.

General case

You will be informed as soon as possible that you can request the assistance of an interpreter and a doctor.

You can contact a lawyer or anyone of your choice.

Who shall I contact

If you don't speak French, you must indicate a language you understand and if you can read.

The language you said you understood is used until the end of the procedure.

Otherwise, the language used is French.

You can leave the waiting area at any time for any destination outside of France.

The Public Prosecutor and the Judge of Liberty and Detention may visit the transit zones to verify the conditions of detention.

The comptroller-general of places of deprivation of liberty can also visit the waiting areas at any time.

Officers of theOfii: titleContent are present in some waiting areas. They are in charge of your humanitarian assistance.

Multiple associations may also assist you. These are associations specializing in helping and assisting foreigners, defending human rights or providing medical or social assistance. They may have on-site or telephone hotlines and hear you.

Isolated minor

If you are minor and entered France without a legal representative, the public prosecutor shall without delay designate a ad hoc administrator.

This administrator assists you and represents you in all administrative and judicial proceedings concerning your maintenance in a waiting area and your entry into France.

He has to come to you.

You will be informed as soon as possible that you can request the assistance of an interpreter and a doctor.

You can contact a lawyer or anyone of your choice.

Who shall I contact

The delegate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and his representatives have access to the waiting areas.

You can ask to speak to them confidentially.

If you don't speak French, you must indicate a language you understand and if you can read.

The language you said you understood is used until the end of the procedure.

Otherwise, the language used is French.

The Public Prosecutor and the Judge of Liberty and Detention may visit the transit zones to verify the conditions of detention.

The comptroller-general of places of deprivation of liberty can also visit the waiting areas at any time.

Officers of theOfii: titleContent are present in some waiting areas. They are in charge of your humanitarian assistance.

Multiple associations may also assist you. These are associations specializing in helping and assisting foreigners, defending human rights or providing medical or social assistance. They can have on-site or telephone hotlines and hear you.

There are two ways to end your holding in a transit zone:

  • Either you have to leave France
  • Either you are allowed to enter France temporarily
Departure from France

Voluntary departure

You can leave the waiting area for any foreigner country at any time.

Forced departure

You are returned to one of the following countries:

  • Country of origin
  • Country you come from
  • Other country where you can be admitted

You may be transferred to another waiting area if your return cannot take place from the station, airport or port where you are being held.

This transfer does not interrupt the procedure for maintaining a waiting zone.

Legal entry into France

Your entry into France may result in:

  • Either the JLD refuses to extend your holding in a waiting area
  • The end of the maximum time allowed to remain in a waiting area (20 or 26 days) if your departure could not take place
  • Either a favorable decision by the Ministry of the Interior on the merits of your application for asylum at the border or your application for humanitarian residence

A valid regularization visa 8 days (called safe conduct) is issued to you.

Before the end of this period, you must:

If you are unaccompanied minor, you are entrusted to the child welfare department or directly to a specialized structure for the care of minors.

Who can help me?

Find who can answer your questions in your region

  • Delegation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

    United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

    Representation in France

    7 Henri Rochefort Street

    75017 PARIS

    Telephone: +33 (0)1 44 43 48 58

    Fax: +33 (0)1 44 43 48 61

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