Can France's interior minister really confiscate your residency permit?
casually lighting his cigarette
from the eternal flame that burns on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris has shocked France.
The man was swiftly arrested and, when it turned out that he was a Moroccan national living legally in France with a
carte de séjour
residency permit, the interior minister
told French media
that he will "take his permit".
But does the minister actually have the power to do that to any foreigner who finds themselves at the centre of a social media storm, however distasteful or disrespectful we may find their behaviour?
Withdrawal
If you are a non-EU citizen and you are living in France with a residency permit (
carte de séjour
), there are two ways you can lose your residency rights; first, and much more common, is having your request to renew your card declined.
This is not an immediate sanction, it allows you to continue to live in France while your card is valid, but it means that you will not be able to renew it, and will therefore have to leave once it reaches its expiry date.
The second method, which is less common, is having the card withdrawn, meaning the person has to leave the country immediately.
In 2020, 8,031 requests for renewal were refused, while 699 permits were withdrawn.
A spokesman for Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau briefed French media that the cigarette-lighting man's card "will be withdrawn by the Minister", suggesting that they are referring to the second method, although no further detail was provided.
Crimes
The most common reason for cards being withdrawn is that the person has been convicted of a crime.
In the case of the cigarette man, it is a specific criminal offence in France to "violate or desecrate" a memorial erected in memory of the dead, such as a war memorial. The same law also criminalises the violation or desecration of ordinary graves, tombs or urns designed to hold ashes.
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The offence carries a maximum penalty of one year's imprisonment and a €15,000 fine.
In this case the man has been remanded in custody but - although the video seems pretty clear - he had not actually been convicted of a crime at the time of the ministry's briefing.
Being convicted of a crime in France is sufficient for your
carte de séjour
to be withdrawn - the sanction is usually reserved for those convicted of serious or violent crimes.
In 2020, the most recent year for which
a detailed breakdown of reasons is available
, 36 percent of withdrawals were for serious crimes including aggravated violence, attempted murder, manslaughter, organised fraud, threats to a person holding public authority or drug trafficking.
There were, however, cases of people having their permit withdrawn for less serious offences - although many of these cases involved people who had repeatedly been in trouble with the law for minor offences.
It's reported in French media that the cigarette man is "well known" to police in Paris and has previously been involved in begging and public order problems.
If he has been convicted of offences in relation to this, that could also be a reason to have his permit withdrawn - in 2020 seven percent of card withdrawals were for soliciting, begging or theft.
A further 6.3 percent were for domestic violence offences and 5.9 percent were for driving offences, usually at the more serious end of the scale.
Although cases involving radicalisation tend to make headlines, they accounted for just 3.2 percent of card withdrawals.
Other
But eight percent of card withdrawals come under the heading of "other reasons".
This could include, for example, information being received that you obtained your card fraudulently or under false pretences (for example you had taken part in a fake marriage or you had presented forged documents with your dossier).
READ ALSO
:
Overstaying, working without a permit and polygamy - what can get you deported from France?
But it can, in rare cases, be linked to your public behaviour.
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Under president Nicolas Sarkozy, a 2003 law was passed allowing for three possibilities to immediately withdraw a residency permit and expel a foreigner in France; if they have engaged in
behaviours likely to undermine the fundamental interests of the State;
that are linked to activities of a terrorist nature;
or constitute acts of incitement toward discrimination, hatred or violence because of the origin or religion of persons.
It's this law that has been used in several high-profile cases of influencers who were deemed to be making extremist, terrorist or anti-France statements.
These provisions do not necessarily rely on a criminal conviction, and ultimately come down to the discretion of the Interior Minister.
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