Keeping a foreigner in a waiting area - Application for asylum

Verified 23 juillet 2025 - Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

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  • Asylum
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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:

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

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