Has the French consulate in Dakar refused your visa? You have 30 days to act. After that, the refusal becomes final and you will have to start again. Legal Field Avocats in Dakar and its correspondent law firm in France, FB AVOCAT, help families, employees and entrepreneurs challenge these refusals.
Visa categories we handle
- Spouse of a French national: a refusal is only lawful in cases of fraud, annulment of the marriage or threat to public order;
- Parent of a French national and family reunification;
- Employee visa and talent passport: qualified employee, business founder, investor, accompanying family;
- Student visa;
- Short-stay (Schengen) visa: family visit, tourism, business.
Most common grounds for refusal
- Doubts about civil status documents: birth or marriage certificate considered irregular, supplementary judgment (jugement supplétif) challenged. This is often the heart of the case, and our core expertise;
- Doubts about the genuineness of the marriage or family relationship;
- Risk that the visa will be used for another purpose or that the applicant will not return;
- Insufficient resources or incomplete supporting documents.
How to challenge a visa refusal
French law requires two steps. The first one is mandatory: a court action filed without a prior administrative appeal is inadmissible.
- Prior administrative appeal, within 30 days of notification of the refusal:
– for a long-stay visa (spouse, family, employee, talent, student): before the Commission de recours contre les décisions de refus de visa (CRRV);
– for a short-stay visa: before the Deputy Director for Visas (sous-directeur des visas) at the French Ministry of the Interior. - Action before the Administrative Court of Nantes if the administrative appeal is rejected, expressly or by silence. Urgent interim proceedings (référé) are possible.
You live elsewhere in West Africa?
The appeal procedure is the same for every French consulate: CRRV or Deputy Director for Visas, then the Administrative Court of Nantes. We also assist applicants from Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Benin, Togo, Mauritania, as well as English-speaking countries of the region such as Ghana, Nigeria, The Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
See the decisions obtained with our correspondent firm FB AVOCAT.
Visa refused? Do not miss the 30-day deadline. Call us on +221 33 844 29 16.
Source: French Code on the Entry and Residence of Foreigners (CESEDA), articles D312-3 to R312-6, accessed on 4 November 2026.
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