After the asylum decision: prepare to leave your accommodation
What is this for
Asylum seeker accommodation (CADA, a reception centre for asylum seekers, or another place offered by OFII) ends after the final decision. You can ask to stay a little longer: up to 3 months, renewable once, if you are granted protection; 1 month if your claim is rejected. Use this time to prepare what comes next and avoid ending up on the street.
Important points
- Warning: Staying longer is not automatic: you have to ask for it. Do it as soon as you get the decision, and prepare a solution at the same time (SIAO, social housing, family, friends).
- Note: 115 is free and available 24/7. Always say if you have children, are pregnant, ill or a victim of violence.
Steps to follow
Step 1: Know when your support ends
Accommodation ends at the end of the month in which your right to stay in France as an asylum seeker ended (final decision). OFII sets the leaving date and gives it to the centre manager, who tells you. Ask for this date in writing if you have not been told.
Step 2: Protection granted: ask to stay 3 more months
As a refugee or beneficiary of subsidiary protection, you can ask to stay in the accommodation for up to 3 months after support ends, while you find a solution. This can be extended by another 3 months with OFII's agreement. Make the request to the centre as early as possible.
Step 3: Use this time for your rights and your housing
Apply for your residence permit, open your CAF rights (RSA, housing aid) and submit a social housing application. Ask the centre's social worker to apply to the SIAO (integrated reception and referral service) for shelter or supported housing. After you sign the republican integration contract, OFII can also help you with housing.
Step 4: Claim rejected: at most 1 more month
If your claim is finally rejected, you can ask to stay at most 1 month after support ends. The centre must tell you that, within 15 days, you can ask OFII for return assistance. If you ask for it, you may exceptionally stay 1 more month after OFII's decision. Before deciding anything, talk to an association or a lawyer about your other options.
Step 5: Do not stay without a solution
If you stay after the leaving date, the prefect or the centre manager can formally order you to leave, then ask the administrative court to order you out. If you have no solution on the day you leave, call 115 in the morning: emergency shelter is open to anyone homeless and in distress.
Documents to prepare
- The OFPRA or CNDA decision
- The letter giving your leaving date
- Your residence permit filing receipt and CAF documents, if you are protected
Official links
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