Section 4: Closure of examination and request for reopening

When the applicant informs the Office that their asylum application has been withdrawn, the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons may close the examination of this application. This closure is recorded in the applicant’s file.

By way of derogation from Article L. 531-1, the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons will take a decision to close the procedure if the foreign national, without a legitimate reason, has not lodged an application with it. .

The French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons may take a decision to close the examination of an application in the following cases:1° The applicant, without a legitimate reason, has submitted his or her application to the Office by failing to comply with the time limits laid down by decree in the Conseil d’Etat and running from the submission of his or her asylum application certificate or…

The French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons will notify the applicant in writing of its decision to close the application taken pursuant to Articles L. 531-37 or L. 531-38, by any means guaranteeing confidentiality and personal receipt of this notification. This decision shall state the reasons in fact and in law and shall specify the appeal channels and time limits.In the case provided for in 3°…

If, within less than nine months of the decision to close the file taken pursuant to articles L. 531-37 or L. 531-38, the asylum seeker requests that the file be reopened or submits a new application, the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons will reopen the file and resume examination of the application at the stage at which it was interrupted. The applicant’s request to reopen…