If you do not meet all the conditions to enter France, you may be placed in a “zone d’attente”1 after being refused entry.
What are your rights in the “zone d’attente”?
If you are currently in a “zone d’attente”, you are entitled to certain rights:
- The right to an interpreter
- The right to medical assistance
- The right to contact a lawyer
- The right to communicate with any person of your choice
- The right to leave the “zone d’attente” at any time for a destination outside France
- The right to apply for asylum
- The right not to be pushed back for 24 hours (time to be spent in the “zones d’attente”)
After 4 days in the “zone d’attente”, if the border police or customs have not deported you, your situation (in particular the possibility of exercising your rights) must be examined by a judge called the “juge judiciaire” (judicial judge). At this hearing, you may be assisted by a lawyer of your choice or a court-appointed lawyer, as well as an interpreter.
The judge may decide to extend your detention for a further 8 days.
At the end of this new period, on the 12th day, your situation must again be examined by the judge.
Your placement in the “zone d’attente” cannot last longer than 20 days (26 days in exceptional cases).
While you are being held in the “zone d’attente”, the police can send you back to your country of origin, with the exception of asylum seekers.
Are you an asylum seeker at the border?
If you fear persecution if you return to your country, you can apply for asylum at the border.
In this case, border police or customs must register your application. You will then be held in a “zone d’attente” until the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (“Office français de protection des réfugiés et apatrides”) and the Ministry of the Interior decide whether your asylum application is “manifestly unfounded” (2.5 days on average).
To do this, Ofpra organizes an interview:
- In-person interviews for asylum seekers detained at Roissy airport’s “zone d’attente”,
- By videoconference for asylum seekers held in other “zone d’attente”.
Once the interview has been completed, the Ministry of the Interior must issue its decision:
- If the decision is positive, you are authorized to enter France and apply for asylum.
- If the decision is negative, you have 48 hours to contest it before the administrative court. The court has 96 hours to render its decision.
The asylum procedure at the border suspends the push back.
As long as the administrative court has not ruled on your case, or the deadline for bringing it before it has not expired, the police cannot implement your push back.
WARNING
Asylum at the border is a procedure for requesting entry into France to apply for asylum.
If you have received a positive decision for asylum at the border, you must still apply for asylum in France.
If the asylum procedure at the border was negative, you can apply for asylum in France.
Are you an unaccompanied minor?
If you are under 18 and unaccompanied by a family member, you may also be detained in the “zone d’attente”.
You have the same rights as adults.
In addition, an ad hoc administrator must be appointed. This person is responsible for assisting and representing you during the procedure. You will meet this person within the first few hours of your placement, and he or she will accompany you throughout the procedure.
Anafé organizes several meetings a week (by telephone and/or in the Roissy’s “zone d’attente”), depending on the availability of its volunteers. How to reach us:
- Telephone answering service: 00 33 1 42 08 69 93
- Roissy office: 00 33 1 48 62 83 62
- By e-mail: perm@anafe.org.
