The French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons is authorised to issue to refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection or stateless status, after investigation if necessary, the documents necessary to enable them either to perform the various acts of civil life, or to apply the provisions of domestic legislation or international agreements concerning their protection, in particular documents in lieu of civil status records.
The Director General of the Office authenticates the acts and documents submitted to it. These various documents make up for the absence of documents issued in the country of origin. The documents issued by the office are not subject to registration or stamp duty.