How can a seriously ill foreigner living in France obtain a residence permit?

Verified 01 May 2026 - Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

A foreigner living in France and seriously ill can obtain, if he meets several conditions, a residence permit to be treated. We present you the process to follow.

Step-by-step approach

You can get a temporary residence card private and family life for care if you fill the whole the following conditions:

  • Be a foreigner (except a national of a country) European)
  • Usually reside in France
  • Condition requiring medical care without which your health would become critical
  • Not being able to access the appropriate treatment in your country of origin
  • Do not represent a threat to public order.

FYI  

You can apply for this title even if you are in irregular situation.

Warning  

The prefecture may refuse to deliver you your residence card if you have not complied with an obligation to leave the country (OQTF) or if you have committed any of the following acts:

  • Forgery and use of forged documents
  • Offenses severe or crimes (drug trafficking, trafficking in human beings, procuring, working conditions or undignified accommodation, among others)
  • Violence against elected officials, public officials or security agents.

Documents to be submitted

You must submit the following documents:

  • Full copy of the birth certificate containing the most recent information, accompanied if necessary by the court decision ordering its transcription
  • Passport (pages concerning civil status, validity dates, entry stamps and visas)
    • Or consular certificate with photo
    • Or photo ID
    • Or consular card with photo
    • Or certificate of nationality of less than 6 months with photo
  • Proof of address less than 6 months old

Find contact information for authorized photographers and authorized booths

  • Statement on the honor of no polygamy in France if you are married and are a national of a country that allows it
  • Proof of the duration of your habitual residence in France for at least 1 year, for example:
    • Visa
    • Receipt for application for a residence permit
    • Asylum application receipt
    • Documents issued by a public administration (prefecture, social service, school)
    • Documents from a private institution (bank statements showing movements)
    • Indisputable personal writings (letters, attestations of relatives).

Procedure to be carried out

You must submit your application on the internet:

Apply online for a residence permit, a change of situation, a travel document, a naturalization application - ANEF

Warning  

This approach on the internet does not concern you if you make a request of provisional authorization to stay (APS) as a foreigner parent of a sick minor child.

To what service to transmit it?

In the personal area of your ANEF account, you must download your medical certificate.

You must then print the document, have it completed by your doctor and send it to theOfii: titleContent.

Who shall I contact

How soon can the medical certificate be sent?

The transmission times differ depending on whether you are an asylum seeker or not:

General case

You must transmit to theOfii: titleContent the medical certificate provided by your doctor within the1 month from its availability in your personal space.

Asylum seeker

If you are an asylum seeker, you must forward to theOfii: titleContent the medical certificate, made available to you in your personal space, within the 3 months from the registration of your asylum application.

How to transmit the file?

You must send the completed documents by post to the address of the medical service of theOfii: titleContent.

For evidentiary reasons, it is preferable to send the file by registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt.

Report prepared by the Ofii doctor

The doctor of theOfii: titleContent may request, with your consent, additional medical information from the doctor who issued the medical certificate or from any other healthcare professional.

These additional information must reach the Ofii doctor within 15 days from the date of his request. If you do not have these additional information requested within the deadline, you must certify that you have taken the necessary steps within the same deadline to obtain the additional documents requested.

The Ofii doctor can also summon you for a medical examination (free of charge) if he deems it necessary and ask you for additional examinations (you have nothing to pay). You will need to present proof of identity.

The results of these examinations must be communicated to the Ofii doctor within 15 days from the date of his request.

Warning  

If you do not respond to the requests of the Ofii doctor, you will not be able to obtain a certificate of extension of instruction of your request.

He then writes a report which he forwards to a college of doctors of Ofii.

Issuance of a certificate of extension of investigation

Once the medical report is sent to this college of doctors, the prefecture issues a certificate of extension of investigation your request for a residence card. The certificate can be downloaded on your “personal” space on the ANEF website.

Medical opinion of the Ofii College of Physicians

The College of Physicians must issue a medical opinion.

It may:

  • Ask the doctor who completed the medical certificate or the doctor who wrote the report or any health professional to provide him, within 15 days, with any additional information
  • To hear you
  • Examine yourself or ask for further examinations.

Additional information and examination results must be submitted within 15 days of the application.

The college of doctors drafts a medical opinion and sends it to the prefecture.

The opinion of the College of Physicians of theOfii: titleContent is a simple notice. He doesn't bind the prefect.

The prefect exercises his discretion to decide whether to grant or refuse the residence permit "private and family life" for care.

Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement

Your request is accepted

If the prefect grants you the issuance of the residence card, he informs you.

You must pay a stamp duty of €50 by tax stamps.

If you entered France without a long-stay visa, you must pay the regularization visa in the amount of €300.

Your request is denied

The refusal decision may be either in writing or may result from the administration's failure to respond after 4 months.

You can then make a appeal to the administrative judge within 2 months of the notification or publication of the contested decision.

Who can help me?

Find who can answer your questions in your region

  • For general information (no appointment request, no follow-up of case)

    Administrative information by phone - Allô Service Public

    • accès

      For more information on this subject, you can contact Allô Service Public.

      Attention: the service does not have access to users' personal files and therefore cannot provide information on their progress.

    • horaires
      • Lundi : de 08h30 à 17h30
      • Mardi : de 08h30 à 12h15
      • Mercredi : de 08h30 à 12h15
      • Jeudi : de 08h30 à 17h30
      • Vendredi : de 13h00 à 16h15

    • Request a call

      coût Service free
    • service

      The informants who answer you belong to the Ministry of the Interior.

FAQ