# Trying to briefly leave France to care for someone in USA - but residence permit is not secured yet



## Kenpimentel (Apr 23, 2021)

Here is our situation:

Moved to France under a work visa July 2021
Husband has a work visa and resident permit squared away
Wife has run into paperwork problems with the prefecture and we are still waiting for her residence permit (it has been submitted twice now)
Wife needs to go back to USA to care for someone

What happens when my wife tries to come back into France? We've been in France now for 8 months. We've been told to not leave France, but what would it actually mean to leave France and try to return? Are extenuating circumstances considered?


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## ARPC (Aug 30, 2021)

This is a hard situation. I was stuck with a récépissé for a first demand for a long time, and had to forego leaving the country to assist my family because I was too nervous about what would happen when I tried to return to France (I was also doing a régularisation of status which made me extra cautious). Without knowing your precise situation (récépissé or not, originally on a family reunification visa or not) it will come down to your personal tolerance for risk. If I were told specifically not to leave, I wouldn’t (and didn’t).


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## Kenpimentel (Apr 23, 2021)

I read somewhere else that you can go to the French consulate and try to get them to bless the fact you left and want to return and resume efforts to get the residential permit. We are first time in France and first time trying to get residential permit - I understand that might be harder to deviate from the process. Right now, we are assuming my wife can't leave the country without particularly dire consequences - like she won't be let back in or will have her residency rejected.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

France isn't really big on refusing entry to people (they let the airlines handle that for the most part) - but you are right to consider the possibility that her resident permit process could suffer. If they have to come back to her for additional information (or to take biometrics or whatever), they generally give the person only a very short timeline to comply. 

And I'd be very cautious about any procedure for exemption that goes through the embassy or consulate. The embassies are not always up to date on what the individual prefectures will accept or allow back in the home country. (Trust me on this one. It is the source of my immigration problems - that lasted a good two years when I first got here.)


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