Over 80 percent of French residency permit requests and renewals are processed via the website ANEF (Administration Numérique des Étrangers en France).
For foreigners in France, this website is crucial for their ability to live legally in the country. ANEF is also the website used to apply for French citizenship (based on residency, par décret) and to update any change in your status.
On top of the usual complaints about slow-moving French bureaucracy, the ANEF site is notorious for its many bugs and processing issues.
Last year the rights body Défenseur des droits revealed that it was dealing with a 400 percent increase in complaints relating to residency permits since the website was launched.
In April, a group of 10 charities, organisations and human rights groups announced they had launched a joint complaint with the Conseil d'Etat, and before that they had sent a shared letter to the interior ministry.
While some people are able to get by without having any problems with ANEF, The Local has compiled a list - with the help of readers and a 40-page report on the key ANEF issues by Défenseurs des droits.
The most common problems reported were;
Previous application not closed (or closed accidentally)
Défenseurs des droits dedicated an entire section of their report to the issue some users face in being unable to submit an application for a new residency permit or renewal because the system does not recognise that a previous permit was already issued.
Instead an error message is generated saying that a different application is already being processed (une demande est déjà en cours d’instruction).
This reportedly happens if an agent forgot to electronically close the previous request when the card was issued. A similar issue is that agents may accidentally close an application, which leaves little recourse for being able to open it again.
READ MORE: Foreigners in France face 'national crisis' due to glitches on admin site ANEF
Lost passwords
There is also a recurrent bug users encounter when trying to change their password, in which users never receive the correct reset link.
Préfecture not receiving requests
According to Défenseurs des droits, some users also reported that they uploaded documents to the website, but those files were never received by the préfecture. This was particularly common with change-of-address applications.
Trouble with simultaneous applications
The civil rights group also highlighted the fact that foreigners should legally have the right to submit more than one application if they qualify for different residency statuses. For example, a Master's student with a noted medical condition should be able to apply both for the student permit and the residency permit linked to "serious illness".
However, the ANEF website only allows one application per person at a time, which has caused issues for parents looking to renew their residency permit and simultaneously request a DCEM (travel document) for their minor child.
Need for a 'foreign number'
In some situations - for example, people who entered France as asylum seekers or children of asylum seekers - a 'foreign number' (numéro étranger) is never issued. In order to apply for a new status, however, this number is necessary to log in and submit an application.
This was one of the issues that the 10 charities highlighted in their letter to the interior ministry.
You might also be asked for your numéro étranger to log onto the ANEF site to apply for French nationality. However, some groups like Brits who have benefitted from the post-Brexit 'WARP' status, may not have ever received a numéro étranger.
There are some work-arounds, with reports that logging on with France Connect can bypass this requirement. However, many find themselves having to contact ANEF's support team to get assistance moving forward.
No ability to update once submitted
ANEF also restricts users from being able to make any changes to their application once it has been submitted.
No history with documents
ANEF in its current design does not keep a full history - along with the previous documents submitted - on their website. Similarly, if any messages are sent on the platform, they have been known to disappear, leading users to rely on screenshots to prove a communication history.
Problems with récépissés
Once the application has been submitted, users will often receive an attestation de prolongations d’instruction, also known as an API. This shows you submitted your request and it is being processed.
Alternatively, you might receive an attestation de décision favorable, showing that your request has been accepted, and guaranteeing the right to stay in France until the new card is ready.
These function similarly to a récépissé (a receipt, which acts as a temporary permit), as you might receive in person in the préfecture. However, sometimes the attestations fail to specify if the person has the right to work. Défenseur des droits said they have received several complains from people who were refused employment on this basis.
READ MORE: Récépissé - Your questions answered on France's temporary residency permit
People have also found themselves unable to download attestations entirely.
On top of that, the 10 charities in their letter to the interior ministry highlighted that "there is no functionality on the ANEF website to request the renewal of APIs.
"The user must submit a renewal request to the prefecture, but this process is complex, as the relevant information is missing from the websites of many prefectures (...) and processing times for these requests are particularly long," the letter said.
Problems with file sizes
Another common problem is the maximum file size allowed. People are constrained to submitting files that do not exceed 10 MB, the charities noted, adding that this can sometimes lead people to submitting incomplete applications.
Readers of The Local Paul Keating, in Soustons, told The Local: "The site sets a limit on the size of the files you upload, which is fair enough. But there is also an unspecified limit on the total size of all the files you upload. Break that limit, and the upload hangs for up to an hour and then reports failure with no reason given.
"By uploading the files in different orders, I eventually twigged that cumulative size was the problem. There is no way to split the upload, because if your application does not conform to requirements it will just be rejected.
"For a 5-year card (after 5 years of residence) you have to upload 5 years' worth of documents in one go and if they are scanned then the volume is considerable."
What can foreigners do to avoid these dilemmas?
Readers of The Local have given their advice. In some situations, the bug can be resolved by logging out and logging back in.
In other situations, you may need to contact the ANEF help service.
You can read their tips in our separate article.
READ MORE: 9 tips foreigners need for dealing with France's ANEF admin website
Have you dealt with these issues when using the ANEF site? Tell us more about your experiences in the comments below.
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