Hello @Sydney
Welcome to our community and thank you for your questions!
Unfortunately I’m not very familiar with the French asylum system. Nevertheless, I did some research and found this very helpful website:
****://domasile.info/en/
I will give you a summary to outline the options you have right now:
First of all you have to wait for your interview at CNDA and after that you wait for their decision. Either they grant you asylum or they reject your appeal.
If you get rejected again, they will send you a letter containing the so-called OQTF (“Obligation de Quitter le Territoire Français”). That means you have to leave France within 30 days. Otherwise your stay is illegal and you might get deported afterwards.
However, you can still appeal against OQTF at the Administrative Court (“Tribunal Administratif”). Keep in mind that you only have 15 days to do that. In some cases, when the OQTF does not contain a period for voluntary departure, you only have 48 hours (!) to appeal. The sources that I found recommended to get in touch with a lawyer to prepare this appeal, but it is not mandatory to have one.
Source: ****://domasile.info/en/i-want-to-make-an-appeal-before-the-national-court-for-asylum-cnda/#answer-cnda
Even if you have been rejected by OFPRA and CNDA you can still apply for reconsideration. In order to do so there needs to be a ‘new’ fact (or more) that shows that your life is in danger in your home country. This fact will be considered as ‘new’ if it happened after the decision by CNDA or if it hasn’t been taken into account (for example because you didn’t know about it at that point in time).
Keep in mind that ‘new evidence’ does not equal ‘new facts’! If you just provide ‘new’ evidence for a fact that has already been taken into account during your first application, it will not be considered as a ‘new’ fact.
In order to apply for reconsideration you have to go to the PADA and get an appointment for the prefecture (sometimes you can go to the prefecture directly). Then you will have to fill in the form they give you and send it back within 8 days.
Then there is three possible outcomes:
1) OFPRA will check if the fact(s) you provided are ‘new’. If they decline your application because the facts are not ‘new’ you can lodge an appeal at CNDA against it.
2) If they take the new facts into consideration, but still come to the conclusion that it’s not sufficient to grant you refugee protection, you can still file an objection at CNDA.
3) best case: The facts you provided are ‘new’ and sufficient to give you asylum!
To get a more detailed explanation of the procedure, please check out this source: ****://domasile.info/en/i-want-to-do-the-application-for-reconsideration/#how-can-I-apply-for-reconsideration
Another option would be to apply for a residence permit for other reasons (like work or family), and see if you fit the requirements. Here is an overview of organisations that might be able to help you with your case. Pick one that is close to your place of residence and get in contact with them:
****://domasile.info/en/useful-adresses/#la-cimade
I hope they will be able to give you answers to your second and third question as I didn’t find enough information concerning this topic to give you a satisfying answer.
Best regards,
Thorgen