Non-EU nationals stay legal in France through a titre de séjour. Most requests are now filed online on ANEF; some statuses and some préfectures still require an in-person appointment. File in the renewal window (2–4 months before expiry) — late filing can mean losing work rights and paying the visa-regularisation surcharge.

Éligibilité / Qui est concerné

Holders of a VLS-TS or titre reaching expiry (renewal), people switching status (e.g. étudiant → salarié), and first-card cases not covered by a VLS-TS.
EU/EEA/Swiss citizens do not need one.

Étapes

Identify the right card for the situation (étudiant, salarié, vie privée et familiale, passeport talent…) — the card determines the pièces and fees.
File on ANEF (account with numéro étranger) or, where required, book a préfecture appointment (see ../portails/prefecture-rdv.json — appointments are free).
Receive the attestation (de prolongation d'instruction or de décision favorable) — it maintains rights while the card is produced.
Pay the taxes/timbre fiscal requested at decision, then collect or receive the card.

Pièces justificatives

Passport, current titre/VLS-TS, photos agréées or e-photo, justificatif de domicile, status-specific proofs (enrolment, work contract, family records…), and the signed CERP (contrat d'engagement au respect des principes de la République — required for every request since 2024, see ../pieces/pieces-justificatives.md).

Délais et échéances

Renewal window: 2 to 4 months before expiry (ANEF shows the exact opening).
Filing after expiry may trigger the droit de visa de régularisation (180 €).

Portail / Où faire la démarche

ANEF: administration-etrangers-en-france.interieur.gouv.fr. Fees are paid as timbres fiscaux (timbres.impots.gouv.fr) — amounts depend on the card; confirm on the decision notice or service-public.gouv.fr.

En cas de blocage (téléservice ANEF)

« Une erreur empêche l'enregistrement des informations saisies » at submission, uploads rejected, accounts stuck: the ANEF is the only channel for most requests, and a blocked dépôt means no récépissé — near expiry, that threatens your right to stay, work and travel. Courts have recognised exactly this: the State must fix the téléservice's dysfunctions and provide an alternative channel when it fails (CE, 2022, n° 452798 e.a.), and juges des référés have ordered préfectures to register blocked demandes (e.g. TA Versailles, ord. 14/04/2026). Fixed a blockage this section doesn't list? PR one bullet to « Causes connues » — when [context] → do [fix] (observed MM/YYYY) — that's exactly how it grows (see TEMPLATE.md, « En cas de blocage »).

Causes connues et corrections (observed practice, 2026-06, from ANTS support's own replies)

The generic "check your input" advice hides specific undocumented rules:

Avoid the characters & * $ ( ) ° : ; , _ " / anywhere in the form.
« Ville » field: digits are blocking — if an arrondissement number was auto-filled (e.g. "Paris 8"), delete it and keep only the city name.
Phone numbers: enter without spaces.
Naturalisation: employer / host name fields accept only letters and "-" — no digits or other characters.
Marriage declaration: the place of marriage takes max 21 characters — city name only.
CST « entrepreneur / profession libérale » (avis sur projet): if a first attempt bugged, redepose the demande with a different email address than the first attempt.
Compress attachments to the size limits; retry from a computer, not mobile.

Le support ANEF, avec les preuves qu'il exigera

Contact support via the ANEF portal's own contact form — administration-etrangers-en-france.interieur.gouv.fr/particuliers/#/contact (a reference number « Ref… » tracks the case). Note: this is the ÉTRANGERS form; the generic ants.gouv.fr → contact routes to the passport/carte-grise queue instead. The phone line 0806 001 620 (ANTS/France Titres CCC, tarif appel local, Mon–Fri — hours vary by period, confirm on ants.gouv.fr) is the same team. To avoid a round-trip, supply their evidence spec immediately (observed practice, 2026-06):

Full-run screenshots: every step of the saisie including the first, up to the error — each with date, time and URL visible, taken from a computer;
a copy of your current titre, your postal address, email, phone. Expect a first generic reply (the checklist above), then a technical escalation. A real escalation exists: cases get taken over by the DGEF (Direction générale des étrangers en France), typically with a written response deadline ("sous 15 jours") — keep that commitment: it matters later.

Quand le support s'enlise : escalader, par écrit

Relance on the same reference once any stated deadline lapses — cite the lapsed commitment and request either unblocking or an alternative deposit channel (the CE-mandated fallback).
Saisine du Défenseur des droits (defenseurdesdroits.fr — free, no avocat needed): practitioners report it is the most effective pre-litigation lever; it formally interpellates the préfecture and typically forces a response in 4–8 weeks. Your exposé des faits = the dated trail (first error, support reference, screenshots sent, lapsed deadlines).
Préfecture RDV / guichet where one exists for blocked téléservice cases.

Le barreau juridique (avocat en droit des étrangers)

Référé « mesures utiles » (art. L.521-3 CJA): the juge des référés orders the préfecture/ANEF support to register or unblock the demande, sous astreinte. Courts accept that the technical blockage itself establishes the urgency, especially for a renouvellement near expiry.
Find and verify counsel on avocat.fr (CNB annuaire, spécialité droit des étrangers); the ADDE association groups specialised avocats; Cimade / GISTI permanences give free orientation.

Délais du déblocage

Start at the first blocking error, not near expiry: each support round trip takes days-to-weeks, DGEF commitments run ~15 days, a DdD saisine 4–8 weeks — the expiry of the current titre is the real clock; don't let support cycles consume it. The screenshot set, reference numbers and every reply are the case.

Pièges connus

Waiting for a préfecture email that never comes — track the ANEF espace messages.
Paying a "rendez-vous" site: préfecture slots are free, only .gouv.fr links count.
Changing address without updating ANEF — notifications go astray.
When blocked: retrying blindly for weeks instead of capturing the evidence spec at the first error (support restarts the clock by re-asking for screenshots); screenshots without date/time/URL or missing the first step — rejected, another round trip lost; waiting out "ne nous recontactez pas" after the stated deadline has lapsed — once it lapses, relance on the record.
Paid facilitators can carry the correspondence burden but are private services (no legal monopoly, no privileged ANEF access) — judge them by transparency; for contentieux, only an avocat can act.

Sources

service-public.gouv.fr — « Titre de séjour d'un étranger en France » (checked 2026-07)
ANEF — administration-etrangers-en-france.interieur.gouv.fr (checked 2026-07)
CE, 2022, n° 452798 et a. (GISTI e.a.) — the State must remedy ANEF dysfunctions and provide alternatives to a failing téléservice (checked 2026-07)
TA Versailles, ordonnance du 14/04/2026 — préfecture ordered to register a demande blocked by the ANEF (checked 2026-07)
art. L.521-3 code de justice administrative (référé mesures utiles)
defenseurdesdroits.fr — saisine (checked 2026-07)
ANEF contact form + CCC 0806 001 620 — service-public.gouv.fr R59398 + préfecture pages (e.g. calvados.gouv.fr « Centres de contacts citoyens ANTS et ANEF ») + aide-sociale.fr/anef-contact (checked 2026-07)
Field-level causes + evidence spec: observed practice from ANTS/ANEF support replies on a real blocked renouvellement (2026-06), labelled per the repo's observed-practice rule

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