Following the severance of diplomatic relations decided by the Burkinabe authorities at the end of June 2026, the French Embassy and the Consulate General in Ouagadougou are closed. Franco-Burkinabe families must now deal with other offices.
Who is competent today?
- Services for French nationals are provided by the French Consulate General in Abidjan or from France.
- Any request for transcription, update or use of a civil status record must be sent directly to the Central Civil Status Service (SCEC) in Nantes, after contacting it.
- France Consulaire answers on +33 3 59 39 70 31.
The trap: outdated information online
As of 4 November 2026, the embassy website still displays marriage and change-of-name pages that refer to the closed consulate. Following them can cost months. Only the page on consular services updated in July 2026 reflects the actual situation.
What this changes for your files
Birth, marriage, death: files are now handled remotely, with no way of having them checked for completeness at a counter. A poorly prepared file comes back later and with more difficulty. This is precisely where legal assistance avoids back-and-forth.
Visa for France from Burkina Faso
Since the closure of the consulate in Ouagadougou, only certain categories of applicants can still apply, at neighbouring French consular posts:
- spouses and children of French or European Union nationals;
- beneficiaries of family reunification or family reunion (for refugees);
- 2026 holders of the French baccalauréat continuing their studies in France;
- students who completed the Campus France procedure in the first half of 2026 and were admitted for 2026-2027.
Official sources do not specify which neighbouring post receives these files: this must be checked case by case, for example with France Consulaire (+33 3 59 39 70 31).
If your visa is refused, the appeal is the same for every country: within 30 days, before the CRRV for a long-stay visa or before the Deputy Director for Visas for a short stay, then before the Administrative Court of Nantes. See our page French visa refusal lawyer and our pages on visas for spouses of French nationals, family reunification and students.
Source: France-Visas, accessed on 4 November 2026.
How we help
Legal Field Avocats advises families living in Burkina Faso or originating from the country in their civil status procedures with the French authorities: checking records, preparing files, follow-up with the consulate or the Central Civil Status Service in Nantes, and appeals in the event of a refusal or an objection by the public prosecutor. Our correspondent law firm in France, FB AVOCAT, takes over for proceedings before the French courts.
A civil status file in progress? Call us on +221 33 844 29 16.
Sources: France Diplomatie – Burkina Faso, latest updates; Consular services for French nationals in Burkina Faso, accessed on 4 November 2026 (in French).
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LEGAL FIELD AVOCATS
14 rue Woro Fila, Fann Hock, Dakar, Senegal
Phone: +221 33 844 29 16
Email: contact@fbavocat-sn.com
Our correspondent law firm in France:
FB AVOCAT
11 rue Galin, 33100 Bordeaux, France
Phone: +33 9 85 40 18 64
Email: contact@legalfb-avocat.fr