How long the prefecture has to answer: what the law sets
Choose the permit and the filing date: the calculator gives the day on which the prefecture’s silence counts as a refusal.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
No answer means implicit refusal on
13 February 2027
Administrative silence: 4 months
| Appeal to the prefect or the court | 2 months after the refusal |
| Actual prefecture waiting time | no official data |
This is the legal period after which silence counts as refusal. Prefectures publish no average times, so we do not invent any.
Rules and sourcesNo prefecture publishes an average processing time for residence permits, and the "per prefecture" tables found online come from forums. What the law does fix is the period after which the administration's silence counts as an implicit refusal (refus implicite). It is 4 months for most cards (14 of the permits in the calculator), including the private and family life card and the employee card, 90 days for the student card, the EU Blue Card and the intra-corporate transferee (ICT) card, 3 months for seasonal workers and 6 months for family reunification. For an application filed on 13 October 2026, a French national's spouse is implicitly refused on 13 February 2027 if no answer comes, a student on 11 January 2027. From that refusal you have 2 months to appeal to the prefect, the minister or the administrative court. For citizenship, the response deadline is 18 months from the receipt.
The period for each permit
For each permit, the calculator reads the period of silence stated on its official page and adds it to the filing date. When the page states no period, it shows it as not published instead of assuming one. The rules come in particular from the private and family life card page, the student page and the talent card page.
| Filed on 13 October 2026 | Silence | Implicit refusal on |
|---|---|---|
| Spouse of a French national | 4 months | 13 February 2027 |
| Student | 90 days | 11 January 2027 |
| EU Blue Card | 90 days | 11 January 2027 |
| Seasonal worker | 3 months | 13 January 2027 |
| Family reunification | 6 months | 13 April 2027 |
| Naturalisation (from the receipt) | 18 months | 13 April 2028 |
After an implicit refusal
For a French national's spouse who filed on 13 October 2026, the implicit refusal arises on 13 February 2027 and an appeal remains possible until 13 April 2027. It can go to the prefect (recours gracieux), to the Interior Minister (recours hiérarchique) or to the administrative court. The family reunification page sets a 6-month silence, and the naturalisation page a response deadline counted from the receipt, explained on the naturalisation processing time page.
What actually speeds things up
Nothing on this site can shorten a prefecture's queue, but a complete file avoids the most common delay: a request for missing documents, which pauses the examination. Filing within the window also matters, because a late renewal adds a fee and a gap in your paperwork. On this site, 5 permits have a 90-day period. General information, not legal advice: only the decision itself and the court are binding.