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Keeping a foreigner in a waiting area
Verified 23 July 2025 - Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
A foreigner arriving in France by boat, train or plane can be placed in a waiting zone at the border in 3 cases: if he is refused entry into France or if he has been refused boarding to the country of final destination or if he requests asylum at the border. The procedure for holding in a holding zone is legally regulated and limited in time (maximum 26 days). How was the procedure conducted and what rights did the foreigner enjoy? We explain this procedure.
What applies to you ?
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Refusal to enter France
You can be placed in a waiting area if you are a foreigner arriving in France by boat, train or plane and that you are the subject of a refusal of entry into France.
The waiting area is a well-defined area located in one of the following locations:
- Airport (Roissy, Orly, etc.),
- Port or near a landing place (Marseille, Calais, etc.),
- Railway station open to international traffic (Paris-Gare du Nord, Lille-Europe, Strasbourg, Nice, Modane, etc.).
A waiting area should not be confused retention center.
The area extends from the points of embarkation and disembarkation to the points where the travelers checks are carried out (customs-controlled areas).
It also covers places you need to go as part of the holding procedure and in case of medical necessity (in court or in hospital for example).
Pending the decision on your situation, you can stay in a specially equipped structure or in a hotel near your arrival.
Please note
If you are arriving 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 waiting area (attached to the nearest border point).
Border police can keep you in a waiting area for 4 days This period begins as soon as you are available to the police.
Your holding in the waiting area is yours notified by a written administrative decision specifying the reasons for your retention.
It must be entered in a register that includes your marital status and the date and time when the measure was notified to you.
It mentions your rights and time limits for appeal.
The decision and notification of your rights are communicated to you in a language you understand.
Conditions for extending holding
Before the end of the 4 days of administrative detention, the police may seize the magistrate of the seat from court of law to prolong your stay in the waiting area.
The judge can then extend your placement in the waiting area for 8 days maximum, bringing the total duration of your stay in the waiting area to 12 days.
The judge of the court to which the waiting area depends shall decide by prescription within 24 hours of being seized (or within 48 hours if required to do so or if the waiting area involves a significant number of foreigners at the same time).
The order is notified to you. It is also notified to the prefect and the public prosecutor.
The hearing may be held in court or in a room near the waiting area.
The judge may be seized for a 2e This can only be done on an exceptional basis or in the event of a deliberate desire on your part to thwart your departure. This extension shall be 8 days maximum, bringing the total length of stay in the waiting area to 20 days.
If the order ends your detention in the holding zone, you are, from the time of its notification, kept at the disposal of the justice for 6 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 stay in the waiting area cannot exceed 20 days (4 days of administrative maintenance + 1re judicial extension of 8 days maximum + 2e judicial extension of up to 8 days).
However, in 2 particular situations, the holding in the waiting zone may be greater than 20 days :
- If you apply for asylum between the 14e and 20e days of your presence in the waiting area, your stay is extended by 6 days, to allow the examination of your application
- If your asylum entry into France has been refused and you appeal for annulment within the last 4 days of the detention order, it is extended by 4 days.
Appeal against the extension of the holding zone
You can challenge the extension order within 24 hours of its issuance.
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 is not suspensive : you may be reappointed before the judge's decision.
Who shall I contact
Then, if you want to challenge the court of appeal order, you can bring an action in cassation.
Who shall I contact
The rights differ depending on whether you are an unaccompanied minor or not.
General case
You are informed as soon as possible that you can request the assistance of an interpreter and a doctor.
You can contact a lawyer or any person of your choice.
Who shall I contact
If you do not speak French, you must indicate at your entry into the waiting area a language that you understand and if you can read.
The language you have declared you understand is used until the end of the procedure.
Otherwise, the language used is French.
The public prosecutor and the magistrate of the seat from court of law may go to waiting areas to check the conditions under which people are kept.
The inspector general of places of deprivation of liberty can also visit the waiting areas at any time.
Agents of theOfii: titleContent are present in certain waiting areas. They are responsible for your humanitarian assistance.
Several associations may also assist you. They 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.
Isolated minor
If you are minor and entered France without legal representative, the public prosecutor appoint you without delay a ad hoc administrator.
This administrator assists you and represents you in all administrative and judicial proceedings concerning your stay in the waiting zone and your entry into France.
He must go to you.
You are informed as soon as possible that you can request the assistance of an interpreter and a doctor.
You can contact a lawyer or any person of your choice.
Who shall I contact
If you do not speak French, you must indicate at your entry into the waiting area a language that you understand and if you can read.
The language you have declared you understand is used until the end of the procedure.
Otherwise, the language used is French.
The public prosecutor and the magistrate of the seat from court of law may go to waiting areas to check the conditions under which people are kept.
The inspector general of places of deprivation of liberty can also visit the waiting areas at any time.
Agents of theOfii: titleContent are present in certain waiting areas. They are responsible for your humanitarian assistance.
Several associations may also assist you. They 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.
Your stay in the waiting zone can end in 2 ways: either you must leave France, or you are allowed to enter France temporarily.
Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement
Departure from France
Departure can be voluntary or forced.
Voluntary departure
You can leave the waiting area for any foreigner country at any time.
Forced Departure
You are being taken back to one of the following countries:
- Country of origin
- Country where you come from
- Other country where you can be admitted.
You can 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 holding procedure.
Legal entry into France
Your entry into France may result from:
- Either the refusal of the magistrate of the seat from court of law extend your stay in the waiting area
- Either the end of the maximum time allowed to remain in the waiting zone, if your departure could not take place.
A valid regularization visa 8 days (called safe-conduct) is issued to you.
Before the end of this period, you must:
- Either leave France
- Either go to the prefecture to file an application for residence permit, if you are allowed to do so.
If you are unaccompanied minor, you are entrusted to child welfare or directly to a specialized structure for the reception of minors.
Transit
You can be placed in a waiting area if you are a foreigner arriving in France by boat, train or plane and you have been refused boarding to the country of your final destination (or the authorities of that country have turned you back to France).
The waiting area is a well-defined area located in one of the following locations:
- Airport (Roissy, Orly, etc.),
- Port or near a landing place (Marseille, Calais, etc.),
- Railway station open to international traffic (Paris-Gare du Nord, Lille-Europe, Strasbourg, Nice, Modane, etc.).
A waiting area should not be confused retention center.
The area extends from the points of embarkation and disembarkation to the points where the travelers checks are carried out (customs-controlled areas).
It also covers places you need to go as part of the holding procedure and in case of medical necessity (in court or in hospital for example).
Pending the decision on your situation, you can stay in a specially equipped structure or in a hotel near your arrival.
Please note
If you are arriving 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 waiting area (attached to the nearest border point).
Border police can keep you in a waiting area for 4 days This period begins as soon as you are available to the police.
Your holding in the waiting area is yours notified by a written administrative decision specifying the reasons for your retention.
It must be entered in a register that includes your marital status and the date and time when the measure was notified to you.
It mentions your rights and time limits for appeal.
The decision and notification of your rights are communicated to you in a language you understand.
Conditions for extending holding
Before the end of the 4 days of administrative detention, the police may seize the magistrate of the seat from court of law to prolong your stay in the waiting area.
The judge can then extend your placement in the waiting area for 8 days maximum, bringing the total duration of your stay in the waiting area to 12 days.
The judge of the court to which the waiting area depends shall decide by prescription within 24 hours of being seized (or within 48 hours if required to do so or if the waiting area involves a significant number of foreigners at the same time).
The order is notified to you. It is also notified to the prefect and the public prosecutor.
The hearing may be held in court or in a room near the waiting area.
The judge may be seized for a 2e This can only be done on an exceptional basis or in the event of a deliberate desire on your part to thwart your departure. This extension shall be 8 days maximum, bringing the total length of stay in the waiting area to 20 days.
If the order ends your detention in the holding zone, you are, from the time of its notification, kept at the disposal of the justice for 6 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 stay in the waiting area cannot exceed 20 days (4 days of administrative maintenance + 1re judicial extension of 8 days maximum + 2e judicial extension of up to 8 days).
However, in 2 particular situations, the holding in the waiting zone may be greater than 20 days :
- If you apply for asylum between the 14e and 20e days of your presence in the waiting area, your stay is extended by 6 days, to allow the examination of your application
- If your asylum entry into France has been refused and you appeal for annulment within the last 4 days of the detention order, it is extended by 4 days.
Appeal against the extension of the holding zone
You can challenge the extension order within 24 hours of its issuance.
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 is not suspensive : you may be reappointed before the judge's decision.
Who shall I contact
Then, if you want to challenge the court of appeal order, you can bring an action in cassation.
Who shall I contact
The rights differ depending on whether you are an unaccompanied minor or not.
General case
You are informed as soon as possible that you can request the assistance of an interpreter and a doctor.
You can contact a lawyer or any person of your choice.
Who shall I contact
If you do not speak French, you must indicate at your entry into the waiting area a language that you understand and if you can read.
The language you have declared you understand is used until the end of the procedure.
Otherwise, the language used is French.
The public prosecutor and the magistrate of the seat from court of law may go to waiting areas to check the conditions under which people are kept.
The inspector general of places of deprivation of liberty can also visit the waiting areas at any time.
Agents of theOfii: titleContent are present in certain waiting areas. They are responsible for your humanitarian assistance.
Several associations may also assist you. They 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.
Isolated minor
If you are minor and entered France without legal representative, the public prosecutor appoint you without delay a ad hoc administrator.
This administrator assists you and represents you in all administrative and judicial proceedings concerning your stay in the waiting zone and your entry into France.
He must go to you.
You are informed as soon as possible that you can request the assistance of an interpreter and a doctor.
You can contact a lawyer or any person of your choice.
Who shall I contact
If you do not speak French, you must indicate at your entry into the waiting area a language that you understand and if you can read.
The language you have declared you understand is used until the end of the procedure.
Otherwise, the language used is French.
The public prosecutor and the magistrate of the seat from court of law may go to waiting areas to check the conditions under which people are kept.
The inspector general of places of deprivation of liberty can also visit the waiting areas at any time.
Agents of theOfii: titleContent are present in certain waiting areas. They are responsible for your humanitarian assistance.
Several associations may also assist you. They 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.
Your stay in the waiting zone can end in 2 ways: either you must leave France, or you are allowed to enter France temporarily.
Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement
Departure from France
Departure can be voluntary or forced.
Voluntary departure
You can leave the waiting area for any foreigner country at any time.
Forced Departure
You are being taken back to one of the following countries:
- Country of origin
- Country where you come from
- Other country where you can be admitted.
You can 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 holding procedure.
Legal entry into France
Your entry into France may result from:
- Either the refusal of the magistrate of the seat from court of law extend your stay in the waiting area
- Either the end of the maximum time allowed to remain in the waiting zone, if your departure could not take place.
A valid regularization visa 8 days (called safe-conduct) is issued to you.
Before the end of this period, you must:
- Either leave France
- Either go to the prefecture to file an application for residence permit, if you are allowed to do so.
If you are unaccompanied minor, you are entrusted to child welfare or directly to a specialized structure for the reception of minors.
Application for asylum
You can be placed in a waiting area 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 countriesor the members of his family living in France with him.
The waiting area is a well-defined area located in one of the following locations:
- Airport (Roissy, Orly, etc.),
- Port or near a landing place (Marseille, Calais, etc.),
- Railway station open to international traffic (Paris-Gare du Nord, Lille-Europe, Strasbourg, Nice, Modane, etc.).
A waiting area should not be confused retention center.
The area extends from the points of embarkation and disembarkation to the points where the travelers checks are carried out (customs-controlled areas).
It also covers places you need to go as part of the holding procedure and in case of medical necessity (in court or in hospital for example).
Pending the decision on your situation, you can stay in a specially equipped structure or in a hotel near your arrival.
Please note
If you are arriving 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 waiting area (attached to the nearest border point).
You remain 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 jurisdiction of another State
- If your application is not inadmissible
- If your request is not manifestly unfounded.
Border police can keep you in a waiting area for 4 days maximum.
This is a written decision that explains the reasons for your placement in a waiting area. It mentions your rights and time limits for appeal.
It also mentions your right to refuse to be repatriated before the end of the one-day period.
It is subject to mandatory registration in 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 context of the examination of your asylum application, theOfpra: titleContent considers that your case is not compatible with holding in the waiting area, you are driven out of this area.
This is particularly the case:
- If you are a minor
- If you have been a victim of torture, rape or other serious form of psychological, physical or sexual violence.
The administration grants you an 8-day regularization visa and gives you a certificate of asylum application.
Conditions for extending holding
Before the end of the 4 days administrative maintenance, the administration may refer the matter to the magistrate of the seat from court of law to extend your placement in the waiting area.
The judge can then extend your placement in the waiting area for 8 days maximum.
The judge of the court to which the waiting area depends shall decide by prescription within 24 hours of being seized (or within 48 hours if the instruction requires it or if the holding area involves a significant number of foreigners at the same time).
The prescription is yours notified and to the prefect and the public prosecutor.
The hearing may be held in court or in a room near the waiting area.
The judge can be seized for 2e extension which can only occur exceptionally or in case of deliberate will on your part to thwart your departure. This extension shall be 8 days maximum.
If the order ends your detention in the holding area, 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 stay in the waiting area cannot exceed 20 days (4 days of administrative maintenance + 1re judicial extension of 8 days maximum + 2e judicial extension of up to 8 days).
Appeal against the extension of the holding zone
You can challenge the extension order within 24 hours of its issuance.
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 is not suspensive : you may be reappointed before the judge's decision.
Who shall I contact
Then, if you want to challenge the court of appeal order, you can bring an action in cassation.
Who shall I contact
The rights differ depending on whether you are an unaccompanied minor or not.
General case
You are informed as soon as possible that you can request the assistance of an interpreter and a doctor.
You can contact a lawyer or any person of your choice.
Who shall I contact
If you do not speak French, you must indicate at your entry into the waiting area a language that you understand and if you can read.
The language you have declared you understand 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 France.
The public prosecutor and the magistrate of the seat from court of law may go to waiting areas to check the conditions under which people are kept.
The inspector general of places of deprivation of liberty can also visit the waiting areas at any time.
Agents of theOfii: titleContent are present in certain waiting areas. They are responsible for your humanitarian assistance.
Several associations may also assist you. They 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.
Isolated minor
If you are minor and entered France without legal representative, you may only be placed and held in a holding area if:
- From a country considered a safe country of origin
- Request for review not inadmissible
- Presentation of false identity documents, travel documents, concealment or falsification of information
- Serious threat to thepublic order.
If you are minor and entered France without legal representative, the public prosecutor appoint you without delay a ad hoc administrator.
This administrator assists you and represents you in all administrative and judicial proceedings concerning your stay in the waiting zone and your entry into France.
He must go to you.
You are informed as soon as possible that you can request the assistance of an interpreter and a doctor.
You can contact a lawyer or any person 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 talk to them confidentially.
If you do not speak French, you must indicate at your entry into the waiting area a language that you understand and if you can read.
The language you have declared you understand is used until the end of the procedure.
Otherwise, the language used is French.
The public prosecutor and the magistrate of the seat from court of law may go to waiting areas to check the conditions under which people are kept.
The inspector general of places of deprivation of liberty can also visit the waiting areas at any time.
Agents of theOfii: titleContent are present in certain waiting areas. They are responsible for your humanitarian assistance.
Several associations may also assist you. They 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.
Your holding in the waiting area can end in 2 ways:
- Either you have to leave France
- Either you are allowed to enter France temporarily.
Departure from France
Departure can be voluntary or forced.
Voluntary departure
You can leave the waiting area for any foreigner country at any time.
Forced Departure
You are being taken back to one of the following countries:
- Country of origin
- Country you come from
- Other country where you can be admitted.
You can 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 holding procedure.
Legal entry into France
Your entry into France may result from:
- Either the refusal of the magistrate of the seat from court of law extend your stay in the waiting area
- Either the end of the maximum authorized waiting period (20 or 26 days) if your departure could not take place
- Either a favorable decision by the Ministry of the Interior on the validity 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:
- Either leave France
- Or, if you are authorized, go to the prefecture, to file an application for residence permit or pre-register your asylum application.
If you are unaccompanied minor, you are entrusted to child welfare or directly to a specialized structure for the reception of minors.
Who can help me?
Find who can answer your questions in your region
Delegation of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
The Office of the 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
Decision to place in a waiting area
Transfer to another waiting area
End of holding in holding area
Delimitation of the waiting area
Rights of foreigners kept in waiting areas
Decision of the Judge of Liberties and Detention
Conditions of access of the delegate of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees or its representatives
Conditions of access for humanitarian associations
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