France’s Défenseur des droits—the constitutionally independent rights ombudsman—devoted an unprecedented chapter of its 2025 annual report, released on 14 April, to foreigners’ struggles with renewing residency permits. According to data reviewed by The Connexion, complaints about titre de séjour renewals and the malfunctioning ANEF online portal surged 70 % year on year and now account for 40 % of all cases handled by the watchdog. Applicants report waiting well beyond the legal 90-day limit—sometimes more than six months—without the interim receipt that preserves their right to work and access social security. Technical glitches lock users out of accounts, while understaffed prefectures rarely answer phones.
![Watchdog slams residency-card backlog as France pledges 500 extra prefecture staff]()
At such moments, many affected foreigners and their employers rely on specialised intermediaries like VisaHQ. The service’s France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/) consolidates up-to-date requirements, offers document-preparation checklists and provides human support that can flag errors before submission—often shaving critical days off the process.
The cascading consequences include job loss, frozen benefits and cancelled international travel for mobile employees and their families. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez responded the same day with a circular instructing prefectures to cut average processing times to 55 days by recruiting 500 additional staff, simplifying document lists and issuing automatic online extensions of existing receipts for up to 12 months. He also ordered an audit of ANEF’s authentication module, which citizen-groups say generates thousands of “404” errors daily. For employers the development is double-edged: the public spotlight may accelerate improvements, but in the interim HR teams must build longer lead-times into assignment planning and maintain payroll compliance when employees fall into an irregular status through no fault of their own. Some companies are exploring bulk-submission pilots with prefectures, akin to schemes used for seasonal agricultural workers. Immigration advisers recommend that expats keep screenshots of failed ANEF attempts and send registered-mail follow-ups so they can prove diligence if checked by labour inspectors. They also welcome the promised extension receipts, which should reduce the current grey period when foreign staff hold neither a valid card nor a récépissé.
At such moments, many affected foreigners and their employers rely on specialised intermediaries like VisaHQ. The service’s France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/) consolidates up-to-date requirements, offers document-preparation checklists and provides human support that can flag errors before submission—often shaving critical days off the process.
The cascading consequences include job loss, frozen benefits and cancelled international travel for mobile employees and their families. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez responded the same day with a circular instructing prefectures to cut average processing times to 55 days by recruiting 500 additional staff, simplifying document lists and issuing automatic online extensions of existing receipts for up to 12 months. He also ordered an audit of ANEF’s authentication module, which citizen-groups say generates thousands of “404” errors daily. For employers the development is double-edged: the public spotlight may accelerate improvements, but in the interim HR teams must build longer lead-times into assignment planning and maintain payroll compliance when employees fall into an irregular status through no fault of their own. Some companies are exploring bulk-submission pilots with prefectures, akin to schemes used for seasonal agricultural workers. Immigration advisers recommend that expats keep screenshots of failed ANEF attempts and send registered-mail follow-ups so they can prove diligence if checked by labour inspectors. They also welcome the promised extension receipts, which should reduce the current grey period when foreign staff hold neither a valid card nor a récépissé.
