Experience and advice:
how to get by in Marseille
Here you will find a selection of extracts (both text and audio) taken from accounts by people who have arrived in Marseille in recent years. The extracts share their experiences, tips and advice.
The CHO3 (Organised Resident Collective of the 3rd district) has made a video explaining how to get a bank account when you are refused one. An unfortunately frequent circumstance, which other...
As for clothes, I know that at the headquarters of the Restaurants du Coeur in Les Aygalades - Padouane have a lot of donations, clothes for adults or children that can be collected, but also things...
Finally, there are some very important meeting places for me, the only ones that allow me to forget our various troubles: on Thursday afternoons we meet with friends from Italy, Sudan and Afghanistan...
The OFII gave me the CERFA "Asylum seeker's medical file - confidential medical certificate": this is for my state of health and for accommodation (assessment of my "vulnerability", for referral to...
At the Prefecture they put me in Dublin (procedure), (towards) Italy. They gave me a form to fill in, to write why I don't want to go back to Italy (DUBLIN observations). As for me, I know why I left...
In the meantime, I had the chance to discover the Jardin de Aures, during an out-trip of my nephew's kindergarten class, which I accompanied. It is a garden where several associations collaborate:...
At the new PADA they told me they no longer provide "social services". When I got out of PADA I didn't know what to do and a friend advised me to go to Cimade where they helped me apply for legal...
Two days later, during a second appointment at the Prefecture, I could to talk about my health conditions; I was given a medical certificate for the OFII. So I had to go and see a doctor, do the...
Before coming to Europe, I was looking for volunteering on a site called HelpX.net. I found an opportunity in Marseille with Yes We Camp. It was interesting to do this volunteer work in parallel with...
The Prefecture placed me in Dublin procedure, because my fingerprints were taken in Bulgaria, and told me that I could not have accommodation while I was in Dublin procedure. As they said, I might be...
There I had an OFII interview which explained the ADA allowance to me and it works well for me. I asked if there was any possibility of finding a place to sleep, but they told me: "There is no place...
I go to ADJ Marceau and they explain to me how to reach the addresses I am looking for. There is a very kind man there who helps me a lot. When I have problems and difficulties, I can go and see him....
Finally the Platform gave us the document to go to the doctor (CMU), they told us that with this document we can go to the doctor for free. They helped us with the procedures.
One initiative I like is the Kafé Calangues, a language café where you learn languages through games. It's an itinerant encounter, but often they're in Nour of Egypt. On arrival, you are...
Since I'm in this situation, I don't have accomodation. I stayed 5 months at La Madrague... there people are crazy ... then I used to call 115 and they always say there is no place, I have tried...
Prefecture has released recordings in several languages with explanations of containment measures for Covid19 prevention.
My profession is that of mechanic: I've already done some trials at garages here. It went well, but they couldn't hire me because I didn't have any papers. So it's very difficult to get by...
Since my legal status changed, the renewal of my residence permit (always for one year) has become easier. But (before) for these procedures, I always had to take up to 3 days off. Each time, I had a...
Once i had found a room,i struggled a lot to ask for the APL (financial housing assistance). The first time i received the APL, I was paying the rent for about one year ! You can ask for the APL only...
What really helped me was to be able to speak french and to know how to express myselft. And not to physically look like an Arab : i could look like somebody from here. And then the strategies :...
When we arrive at Marseille, it's nearly impossible to feel homesick ; wherever you come from, you will quickly meet somebody from your country !Per exemple, on the National Boulevard, not...
The student visa lasts one year. After one year, you can ask to renew your visa, You have to ask at the CROUS (Regional Centre for School and University Services). At the CROUS, there is a policeman...
My asylum request will probably be refused, as i can't prove enough the risks related to my activism in my country, and furthermore, when talking with other angolans, I learned that no request made...
The information for my residence permit, i searched for it at 66 rue St Sébastien, it's the Prefecture for foreigners, When you ask an information overthere, normally they have this information but...
When I arrived in Marseille, I went to the day-care centre Marceau, They accompanied me to the hospital of La Timone. Once we got there, I have been told that my medical treatment will take time, but...
In Saint Marcel, in the 11th arrondissement of Marseille, there is an Emmaus community, called Emmaus Saint-Marcel. It is an association that welcomes people in difficulty. There are people from...
In Saint Marcel, in the 11th arrondissement of Marseille, there is an Emmaus shop, where you can find everything: cheap clothes, furniture and electrical goods, crockery, books, toys... It is a...
I bought this book (he shows us a french manual, the “Vocabulaire Progressif du Francais”) every day I go to the park next to Castellane (Park du XXVI Centenaire), but it’s starting to get cold...
I didn’t know anyone in Marseille, I arrived at St. Charles and there they told me to go down the stairs of the station and go to the right for the refugees. When I arrived to (what is it called?)...
The OFII wanted to speak French and I said “No, I speak English,” but she insisted on French. I told them I don’t have money, I begged to speak with a friend who speaks English, so that he...
I went to the PADA, they gave me a meeting to register my claim. A woman received me one afternoon. She asked me for my papers, I gave her my birth certificate because the doctor at the hospital had...
I stayed until July 2017. OFII chose where I had to go, which village, which center… If I didn’t accept OFII’s offer, I didn’t have options for a year, two years, three years, five years.......
Yesterday I met with the service WELCOME who offered me housing starting in November, but before that I don’t have a solution, the 115 told me “tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow…” But there is...
I am with my family. I have three children aged 10 to 16. We applied for asylum in March at GUDA. I stayed in the streets for one month with my family after the meeting with the Plateforme. After...
I don't know how it's going to be until April, and especially after that. I have spoken with friends who are also "dublinable" towards Italy, and who are at a more advanced stage in their...
At the police station, they took my fingerprints, made a report and gave me a summons to the Prefecture. When I went to the Prefecture, I was again fingerprinted and photographed and explained the...
When we were in Marseille for the first time, I went to an association called CADE, it is a help centre for foreigners. It is near La Canebière and the cours Lieutaud, just next to a bookshop [8,...
I met a theatre actor who had just finished his show: he told me about the evangelical church "Viens et vois", at the Belle de Mai, attended by Protestants who had also lived in Angola. A few days...
If I have any advice, it is to be open and get involved in the dynamics that are happening here. There are many interesting things at the political, human, humanitarian and cultural level. Even if...
At the Platform they don't help me. To go to Paris l'OFPRA I have problems with the tickets, so I came to SOS Voyageurs. They paid for the OUIGO train tickets. But where are we going to sleep with my...
I also go to the Afrisanté association, in Noailles, who helps a lot of people. I go there to get help for the administrative procedures (CMU calls 115, ...), but also just to rest and drink tea.
I went to meet the CIMADE, who helped me prepare my appeal. Today I am waiting for a hearing at the CNDA. And the Cimade, besides that for the use of CNDA, has helped me for many steps, like...
I am a class in several places: in the Friche de la Belle de Mai, on the boulevard Baille at the Amicale du Nid, in Tétraccord and at the Manba. (Note QX1: Course schedules are up to date on the...
Seeing all this world at the OFII and finding that no hosting solution was proposed to me, I gave up... In the meantime I had the chance to know people of the collective Migrant Support – El Manba,...
With regard to accommodation (for asylum seekers), no solution has been proposed to me by the institutions: I made 4 attempts, by going to the OFII early in the morning. But every time there was a...
For work, I was also helped by the ADDAP13, street educators who helped write my CV and gave it to the Régie Nord at Saint Louis. And the Régie Nord offered me a 6 month position, a maintenance...
I had worked at a European construction site for les Compagnons Bâtisseurs [French volunteer construction company that helps renovate housing projects in urban areas] here in Kalliste, my housing...
Since our arrival, we have slept in the street in front of the Gare Saint Charles. The day after our arrival, we went to the Plateforme, we were received the same day and we had the meeting at the...
It was in the beginning of August when I finally got the money (the first payment from ADA) That almost 30 days after registration.
The Plateform sent us to the Secours Populaire for food and toiletries, but they didn’t have anything but a pack of nappies...
I asked the Platform (PADA) what we were supposed to do after the 10 nights provided by the 115... In response, they told me to see directly with the 115, so I called them the last day… but they...
A Sudanese family we knew from Italy... explained to us how to apply for asylum and told us that we had to go to the platform. We went there but we arrived too late, at 8:30 am there is already more...
We arrived at night in Marseille, we slept in the street in front of the station Saint Charles. A gentleman spoke to us and told us that we could call 115. We tried to call the 115 all night but...
It's important that children go to school, for their stability but it is very difficult to manage alone to find help and to do the procedures of registration at school.. The Platforme Asile does not...
The day after I arrived, I went to the Asylum Platform (PADA), we were received the same day. An Albanian employee did the translation. We were set the rendezvous at the prefecture (NDA. at GUDA) 49...
At the Platform (PADA), they gave us an appointment for the Prefecture, almost one month later… The PADA did not call 115 for us. It asked a fellow citizen from our country to find a solution...
The day after our arrival, we went to the Platforme Asile but PADA is not open for registration in the afternoon, they told us to come back the next day between 8am and 8:30am to register on the list...
I called 115 in the morning at 8 o’clock, I tried about four times and finally they gave me one month in La Madrague… but unfortunately it is not really a good place, there are no normal...
I learn French at Espace Asso and I take courses at the Association "Solidarité Provence Afghanistan". I also participate in classes at another association, near the Vieux Port, named "Osons la...
I go to Gare St. Charles at 5 in the morning and I wait for work. There are a lot of people waiting there in the morning to be chosen for “under the table” work during the day… but it is...
I asked for help to find a solution for accomodation, but there were no more, besides the 115 and I can’t go sleep in a place like that... The Madrague (Unité d'hébergement d'Urgence) reminds me...
I explained to Martine at SOS Voyageur that I want to continue to go to school and Martine sent me to RESF. I went there and they told me how to do it, they gave me the addresses. [...] And they are...
I have a library card, I go to "L'Alcazar", as I do not have a place to stay, I go there...to avoid hanging out at the the Saint Charles train station all the time...
After having passed at the Asylum Platform (PADA), an asylum seeker normally must wait about 3 days until his appointmen at Préfecture (GUDA). To me, they fixed an appointment 50 days later!...
The Cimade directed me to the Medecins du Monde. I created a medical file with them so that I could request at the Prefecture to stay here for treatment. The Cimade has also tried to join the Comede...
The day at the PADA when they explained the Dublin Regulation to me, I said that I was sick. The person at PADA called Timone to confirm that I was sick. The woman at PADA told me that I shouldn’t...
The doctor made a medical certificate explaining that I need to be followed here and that I shouldn’t be sent back to Italy. I gave a copy of it to the PADA and they didn’t do anything. In my...
For food there are places to eat, I go to the Sisters on boulevard National. At the Plateforme they told me to go to the "Refuge" but they only offer coffee, I don’t go there anymore; I get coffee...
I collect money from OFII (le ADA), every 5th of the month. When I was under the Dublin Regulation, I got 158 euros every two weeks and now that I am in the normal procedure I get 345 per month.
I received the refusal of the OFPRA in January of 2016. I appealed before the CNDA and requested the appointment of a lawyer with legal aid. By compatriots, I had had good information about a lawyer...
One time I went to Popular Relief with a a women of the Education Without Borders Network who helped us in asking for a food package. It is necessary to do the case file once per year. The women of...
For 6 months we had regular meetings every three weeks at the Préfecture until the sixth month when they told us that Belgium had refused to resume charge of us and so we could start the asylum...
I applied for asylum in Marseille. They gave me an appointment. The first time I went to the Prefecture, I don’t know. The Prefecture told me that you don’t apply for asylum there, they gave me a...
We requested accommodation by showing the documents of the Doctor of the Rimbaud PASS (Dzemail had an important surgery in Serbia. It is followed by the hospital of La Timone.) When we showed this...
Early April we went to the Prefecture to give our fingerprints. That day, the person from the OFII told us that we did not have the right to accommodation, since we were in Dublin procedure for...
I thank Robert from Secours Catholique, he helped me. OFPRA sent the summons for my wife but not for me, we were not together for the summons and the Plateforme did nothing. I asked and Mustafa said...
In February the Préfecture placed me under the Dublin Regulation, they gave me a paper for 1 month, then 4 months, then 4 months, then they gave me the paper that said that I had to go back to...
For my sister, we called the 115 numerous times but they were saying that there was not space, they asked does she have children and they said " sorry we don’t have place », we tried so many...
The PADA tells me to go to the AADAP 13, I go there with my brother 2 or 3 times a week but they do nothing, just tell me to sign a notebook to say that I came. They say that they don’t have the...
Radija and Esmat just joined us in Marseille. In Toulon, the police had stopped the train they were traveling on and asked them how many countries they had crossed and if they had been fingerprinted...
When we arrived, an Afghan man approached us at the station, he asked us where we had come from and brought us to his house. He explained the procedures and showed us the way to get to Plateforme...
After 3 renewals, it is possible to ask for a 10 year resident card. That is what I did in 2009, but I was refused. I more easily obtained French naturalization, which I had asked for at the same...
I first looked for training/educational programs that would match with me. I initially came to France with a tourist visa to sort out my registration at the university, finish my visa application...
When I arrived in Marseille I was ill and needed treatment.A friend told me about Médécins du monde. I went there and I saw a doctor who gave me some drugs. He didn't ask for my papers, only...
A tip: Enjoy public and open spaces, like for example libraries or beaches. In France there are places, made by the State or by society, that can help us to get out of the feeling of being isolated....
The CROUS can give financial aid : they provided me with a 500 euro scholarship last year.
As a refugee, you have social rights, meaning the RSA (revenu de solidarité active) , or medical aid, housing. Those are the rights for French people, Europeans in France, and refugees in France,...
A month after my first visit to the Prefecture I was summoned their again because my one-month residence permit was coming to an end. They explained that they had discovered that my fingerprints...
Noailles is not my favorite place on earth, but when I arrived in Marseille it became my Disneyland. I knew all the shopkeepers: the charcutier, the butcher, the greengrocer. It was a nice feeling;...
When I lost my documents the Health Insurance Office demanded that I present a residence permit. That's when I went back accompanied by my current employer. He told them that I didn't need a...
When I arrived here, I looked for organizations to do workshops with children because this is something I’ve always done and that I like to do. I met the director of Destination Familles, who...
At the language school they told me that if I ever managed to register properly I would need to have a French bank account. Accompanied by an Italian Friend, I went to the Post Office in the...
Once I have my Pakistani passport, the Italian state will give me a visa with a different code containing two letters (EU, I suppose) that certifies that I can move and work freely in Europe.
For my ADEF application I had provided an Italian document stating my identity and on which was noted my Pakistani nationality... But in Italy I had had an unlimited residence permit! I didn't think...
When I arrived (from Italy) I thought I'd sign up for a language class organised by the ADEF (Association départementale d'Études et de Formation, Departmental Association for Study and Training)....
Casa Consolat, a social and solidarity centre, serves meals after the lunchtime service if there is any food left.
There is a big market near the Bougainville métro station. The prices there are very low. It's the flea market and you can find foodstuffs, fruit and vegetables, spices, but also clothes,...
A few months later I receive the documents, but it's just a provisional receipt for my application... a receipt is just great! Except that employers don't want to hire you if you don't have a full...
At Saint-Charles station, opposite the university, associations give out food and hot meals at night. You can ask for clothes, blankets. There are supportive people there that help us.
Some French friends told me about associations that act as guarantors, but in fact all they can do is pay a part (or in some cases all) of the deposit.
I finally passed my bac last year. Twelve years after arriving here. In ordre to do so I took French lessons at the university to learn to read and write and then I sat the literature exam. I...
My problem then was that I had to go back to Japan in September and I wasn't sure if the receipt (for my residence permit application gave me the right to. I received contradictory advice regarding...
In any case, financially, it was a complicated period: the master's degree was funded with an Erasmus Mundus grant. These scholarships are aimed at both European and non-European students. For...
At first I was very wary of associations that are supposed to help you with your administrative procedures. I wanted to solve my own problems, working things out by asking the pertinent questions to...
What I learned was that there are a number of ways to obtain a residence permit for professional reasons: you can apply as a self-employed worker("auto entrepreneur"), as a salaried employee, or even...
I went to the Prefectture at 6 am and got in the queue. I had to go back a number of times because only a small number of people can be seen each day. When I finally managed to to get a number all...
This year I worked part-time in a bookshop, l'Histoire de l'Oeil, for a fair-trade association (on a government subsidised contract) helping with setting up a project to sell books, and most recently...
When I finally registered with Pôle Emploi (the French employment agency) I had a hard time understanding how things worked. I think I was removed from the register twice in the space of a few...
As an asylum seeker I would have been eligible for a place in a reception centre for asylum seekers (Centre d'accueil de demandeurs d'asile - CADA), but the Asylum Platform always told me that there...
That was the time when I was closest to reveiving an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF)... at the time it was still called an "Invitation to leave..." They replaced "invitation" with...
So, I found another apartment at 650€, less expensive, with 5 rooms. I found it by chance, chatting with someone. My mother lived just below. I noticed the apartment was empty so I talked to the...
They explained to me that to apply for asylum I had to go through the Asylum Platform who arranged an appointement at the Prefecture. That is what I did and I am currently waiting to be summoned by...
The residence permit application receipt also enabled me, finally, to sign job contracts in France. Until then I had worked in the kitchens of Japanese restaurants. I had also visited a number of...
I arrived in Europe, in Germany to be precise, in 2010. I lived there for 3-4 years, at first on a one-year visa, and then later with two renewals for 2 years each. The first was a Working Holiday...
Concerning health, because at first I didn't have the CMU (Universal Health Insurance), people at the Conception Hospital helped me and told me where I should go. At the time, there was a social...
"When we first arrived in Marseille, in Belsunce, with Oussama, I had trouble getting milk, nappies. We got help from the Secours Catholique in the Belle de Mai area. it was really a lo. ng way to go...
The first problem in Marseille was accommodation: the majority of young Kurds that I met lived with their families, their parents, and they had no way of taking me in. I spent the first two months...
It took me 4 1/2 years to obtain a residence permit. And to do so I entered a civil partnership with my then companion. The CIMADE helped me a lot with the administrative steps needed for the civil...
My advice to foreigners arriving in Marseille? Don't limit yourself to looking for a job in your branch. It's better to take the first job that comes up and work for a few months. During that time...
French institutional websites are much too complicated. You get the impression you are reading the statutes. There are never any simple diagrams letting you grasp the key information easily. You have...
There are lots of associations and associative bars that help a lot and it's easy to get in contact with them and work with them as a volunteer. That is what happened when I found Casa Consolat and...
When I arrived in Marseille all I had was a small rucksack because I thought I would be returning home a week later. I found myself here with no clothes and no money. I didn't find anywhere to get...
Between the train station and the Réformés neighbourhood there are a number of Kurdish restaurants. Le Marmara, for example. They're good restaurants, cheap, and they are places where you can get...
At the Asylum Platform I felt the people there were fully invested in accompanying the applicants, but I also saw that that wouldn't be possible because of the lack of means compared to the number of...
As a German, you don't have to go to the Prefecture to register or apply for a residence permit; my German identity card is accepted gives me the right to stay in France.
At the time I was looking for work in the hotel and restaurant sector. To prepare my image for this field of work before going to interviews I went to lots of garage sales and unofficial curbside...
I started with some odd jobs: distributing flyers in Aix, for example, for the CRIJPA (Centre régional information jeunesse Provence Alpes, Regional Youth Information Centre Provence-Alpes), on the...
I hitchhiked to Marseille, my rucksack on my back. I couchsurfed for the first week. The person who put me up gave me some very good advice: he told me about rezoprospec. It's an exchange network...
"Ten days before the mariage, the visa is ready: as I'm collecting it I see on the document that it is a "VISA France", the Schengen area is not mentioned at all. And my flight is with Lufthansa with...
The employee at the Prefecture replied: "But you're married! You don't need a residence permit anymore. All you need is your family record book. --- Keep it with you at all times so you can show it...
The problem is that since the murder of three Kurdish militants in Paris in 2013, Kurdish cultural centres abroad are hidden as they are frightened of possible actions of the Turkish secret services....
The problem is that when we look at the Prefecture's website neither my girlfriend nor myself can understand a thing. It is mainly the CIMADE that helped us by explaining what we needed and what our...
Thus, I was able to unblock my situation thanks to the CIMADE and, before them, the people that told me to go to see them, Japanese friends that run the Okasan and Tako San restaurants in the city...
In the meantime, I had already started going to Casa Consolat. That is where I was advised to contact the Local Mission on the Avenue de Toulon because I was still under 26 years old (that was the...
I concentrated on the positive encounteres. At the Forbin centre I met a young Guinean who knew of a collective dedicated to supporting migrants: El Manba. That's where I got to know lots of really...
Not knowing anyone in Marseille I decided to go to Switzerland where I had friends and acquaintances who were from my hometown. I took a train to Basel where a friend offered to put me up. In...
And there's the housing commission of the Soutien Migrant collective (El Mamba. That's how I managed to find new accommodation when Forbin told me that I couldn't stay any longer. I thought I'd be...
Sport also helped me meet people. Football, going to Vallier sports ground; ther are matches every wednesday and thursday ay Korsec stadium in Belsunce. I've got to know lots of people through sport,...
At the CADE (Centre d'Accès au Droit des Étrangers, Centre for Foreigners' Rights) they explained that I had no choice: I had to return to Japan to request a French visa. This solution, however,...
The fact that I couldn't go back to Diyarbakir also meant the end of of my university career. I only had two more exams to sit before finishing my course. I asked the Asylum Platform: could I finish...
"Studies finished, this is now my situation: I have a temporary residence permit titled "jobseeking student post professional master's degree". It's a provisional residence permit lasting 12 months...
We decided to get married, we liked the idea in any case! But because my girlfriend is Italian, and in addition unemployed in France, after getting advice from the CIMADE, we decided to get married...
In 2014, I began thinking of coming to settle in Marseille. I am Japanese and I still had the German visa and I thought it allowed me to stay here. In fact, I later learned that I could come to...
Sometimes I looked at institutional websites. You can find precise information about what documents you need to present, for example, but not very much else. Personally, I have always prefered to...
In order to understand things more clearly I went to the CIMADE (inter-movement committee for aid to refugees) where I was well taken care of. The criteria for obtaining a residence permit were...
In human terms, and especially thanks to music, I can say that I have never really had any problems. Quite the opposite in fact. With regards to the bureaucracy, things have been harder. When I moved...
As I said, when I arrived everything was simple thanks to my job and the apartment I was offered. In the long run, it's mostly my French friends who have given me the best tips. The friend who cooks...
Once, when I was applying for a job with a municipality in the region, a Pôle Emploi employee said to me, "You know, with the Vigipirate Plan at the moment it's difficult for a local community to...
I have often found it difficult to have my Italian diplomas and credentials recognised by Pôle Emploi (the French employment agency). They sometimes told me that I should sit exams in France in...
After having received my Individualised Housing Allowance (APL) for a number of months a number of different problems occured one after the other leading to my allowance being stopped. For example,...
At the same time, I went to the CAF (Family Allowance Fund) to get information about housing benefits (Aides Personalisées au Logement -APL, Individualised Housing Allowance). After hours of...
Getting guarantors was the single biggest obstacle to renting accommodation. My family live in Italy and French landlords distrust guarantors who live abroad. I think they believe that if there are...
