• MMC

This week, Management Mobility Consulting draws your attention to a fact that is developing more and more in France: the booking of appointments in the prefecture for a sum of money.

This totally illegal practice has developed outside the French authorities. The situation concerns foreigners living in France who need to renew their administrative documents.

Great difficulties in obtaining an appointment in the prefecture:

For some time now, having an appointment in the prefecture for certain administrative procedures has proved to be an obstacle course.

And for good reason, the free online appointment gives many people a negative answer: "There is no longer a free time slot. Please repeat later".

According to the Ministry of the Interior and the Prefecture of Seine-Saint-Denis, the phenomenon should be caused by computer robots that reserve a maximum number of time slots dedicated to meetings with foreign titles.

Faced with this problem, some people decide to pay to get the famous grail.

A market on the web....

As appointments for the prefecture are made on the Internet, it is the place where the actors of this black market operate. In a few minutes, it becomes possible to set up an appointment within return: you have to pay. Prices vary according to the offers: 50€, 150€, even more.

Fake Facebook pages have also emerged. They offer to pay via PayPal.

What solutions to face this parallel market?

For now, the Ministry of the Interior and the relevant prefectures have filed several complaints and cyber counterattacks have been launched.

The Hérault prefecture has decided to create a page dedicated to emergency appointments (http://www.herault.gouv.fr/Actualites/INFOS/Usagers-etrangers-un-nouveau-portail-pour-demander-un-RDV-en-urgence) for foreign users. This system would be extended to other prefectures using online appointment taking.

Other prefectures also warn Internet users on their websites.

Management Mobility Consulting has informed the Parisian authorities about this situation and is in discussion with them to propose measures of improvement.