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My friend got stuck in Morocco and is not allowed to come back France as she lost her residence permit card.

She has a long stay visa and residence permit card (carte de séjour, type: student) in France. Unfortunately, it was stolen in France just a couple days before her departure to Morocco (Chinese are able to travel to Morocco visa-free). She filed a police complaint of the loss (Récipicé de déclaration) and hadn't obtained the new permit card before her departure.

When she tried to come back, the airline staff declined her at check-in, as she doesn't have a visa for France. Now, she's stuck in Morocco.

She tried to ask for a return visa (visa de retour) from the French Embassy in Casablanca, but they declined her request. They also suggested that she return to China to apply for a new visa.

Instead of going back to China, are there other solutions to allow her to return to France?

Update:

Finally, I suggested my friend buy a combined ticket, Morocco --> France --> China, and try to go through French customs. Luckily, the officials in Paris passed her through customs. She is on the way to the Pink City:-)

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  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.
    – JonathanReez ♦
    Commented Apr 13, 2017 at 21:37
  • The French Embassy in Casablanca really tried to screw her. Now that she's back in France, she needs to make a formal complaint against those particular employees, hopefully, she remembers their names.
    – Stephan Branczyk
    Commented Sep 23, 2017 at 11:14

2 Answers 2

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I am afraid that your friend's situation is very dire. The visa de retour is indeed the right solution to return to France if you had to leave it without proper documentation. If you read the official documentation however, you will see it mentions “force majeure”, which means something you could not avoid and it's not clear to me that it applies here. From the perspective of the French government, she should probably have postponed her trip.

Given that and since the consulate already refused her request, this does not seem like an option in this case. You could still try one more time and if you provide more details about the reason for the refusal someone might be able to suggest how. But that's a long shot at best. At the end of the day, there is nothing you can do to circumvent the consulate and there is nothing forcing them to help you. Appeals are possible but that's a long and arduous process so even if you had legal grounds to appeal (which is not the case here, as far as I can tell), it wouldn't solve the issue quickly.

Unfortunately, it seems that the only option left is returning to China and restarting the student visa process from the beginning. Do try to get professional advice from a lawyer based in France and some experience of these matters as even that might not be trivial (at this point, your friend isn't making progress in her studies - which is grounds for refusing to renew a student permit – and would need to prove she could register again next year).

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    Couldn't she get a visa de retour in China instead of restarting the student visa from the beginning? It seems that the consulate in Casablanca may have rejected her because she does not reside within its jurisdiction.
    – phoog
    Commented Feb 21, 2017 at 16:32
  • @JonathanReez That would involve inventing a purpose for a trip to the Schengen area, lying about every aspect of your personal situation but sure if she has a visa, it's possible in practice. By that logic, jumping over the fence at Ceuta could work too.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Feb 21, 2017 at 22:12
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    Finally, my friend bought a combined ticket: Morocco --> Paris --> China. Luckily, the officials in Paris passed her through customs.
    – SparkAndShine
    Commented Feb 22, 2017 at 22:18
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    @pnuts, she currently stays in Paris and gonna return to Toulouse by train or car (but not plane).
    – SparkAndShine
    Commented Feb 22, 2017 at 22:38
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    @sparkandshine Well rules vary from one country to the next, but many EU countries allow domestic travel without checking immigration status. I've never flown domestically in France, though, so I don't know for certain. Some airlines are stricter than they need to be, too, so it's necessary to check with the airline.
    – phoog
    Commented Feb 22, 2017 at 23:46
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As stated by OP in the comments:

Finally, I suggested my friend buy a combined ticket, Morocco --> France --> China, and try to go through French customs. Luckily, the officials in Paris passed her through customs. She is on the way to the Pink City.

So the answer was to buy a one-way ticket from Morocco to China via France and then proceed to exit to the city through customs.

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