As from 2 January 2025, the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons OFPRA will no longer require the family reference form (FFR) for newly beneficiaries of international protection.
Until now, after obtaining refugee status or subsidiary protection, the OFPRA sent a family reference file to be completed. The family reference form allowed the OFPRA to establish the civil status of the beneficiary and to confirm his/her family situation in the event of a request for family reunification. This family reference file was considered a “sworn statement” in which beneficiaries of international protection officially declare that the information in the document is correct. Beneficiaries of international protection had to send to OFPRA the originals of their passport, identity card and birth certificate issued by their country of origin (which they are no longer required to use).
More information in several languages regarding the family reference form is available here.
Phasing out the family reference form is a procedural simplification for beneficiaries of international protection, which will not affect the quality of the information that OFPRA has to collect. In fact, successive developments in the asylum procedure and OFPRA's practice now mean that once protection has been granted, OFPRA already has most civil status information which was also already verified, particularly during the asylum application interview.
All applicants, whose decision is dated before 1 January 2025, will still have to complete the family reference form.