Bruno Retailleau was on Mission Friday at the Prefecture of Yvelines. After having lunch with the teams, the Minister of the Interior presented the new circular concerning the regularization of undocumented migrants. This, which replaces the Valls circular, plans to tighten the criteria of exceptional admission to the stay (AES) of foreigners, so that “this procedure remains exceptional”. According to the minister, the objective is to “drastically reduce irregular immigration”.
These new provisions are not likely to reassure the 17,500 residence permit applicants who crowd each year at the prefecture (and its sub-prefectures) counter of the Yvelines.
This Thursday, there were already a dozen in front of the Versailles prefecture, almost an hour before the opening of the service.
Souleymane, arrived from Côte d'Ivoire six years ago, is alarmed to see his renewal of a pending residence permit: “I made my request, two months ago but it has still not been validated , says this diver in a restaurant in Trappes. My title expires in four days (January 28), it worries me. I did not manage to have an appointment at the prefecture and, when I called the help number, I was just answered again. »»
-Same observation for Bilel, 28 -year -old Tunisian, who arrived in France four years ago. At the end of the prefecture, the young man, who set up his construction company five months ago, sighs: “I made my request for renewal in August. On December 2, I was told that the decision was favorable and since then, nothing. No news and I did not receive my residence permit. It's a hassle … If you don't have an appointment, you can't go back, but there is never any appointment on their site. I've been waiting for my residence permit for five months, I don't know how long it will last. »»
Situations all the more incomprehensible as the state services have carried out developments over the past two years to accelerate the processing of requests. In 2023, the sub-prefecture of Saint-Germain-en-Laye had announced a sort of “Marshall Plan”. This consisted, among other things, in obtaining reinforcement, especially on Saturdays, to work on files. In reality, almost two years later, the procedures are still as slow.
On the prefecture's website, the first meeting offered to recover its residence permit is set … March 10. For a renewal request, it is worse, since it will be necessary to wait, at best, until April 28.
