France to implement new immense immigration changes for asylum seekers and new foreign workers willing to get the residence permit. The immigration bill was presented to the Council of Ministers on February 1, 2023, by Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories, by Éric Dupond-Moretti, Minister of Justice, and by Olivier Dussopt, Minister of Labour, full employment and integration. Faced with the shortage of labor encountered by certain economic sectors such as catering and construction etc., the bill creates a one-year residence permit for work in shortage occupations.
The new residence permit card will be tested until the end of 2026, before its possible sustainability. Employers will not have to take any steps, the card being equivalent to a work permit.
Irregular workers will be able to request their regularization under this new card which will be issued automatically, under certain conditions. These conditions are:
- experience of eight months during the last 24 months in a profession or a geographical area in voltage;
- Duration of residence of at least three years in France.
Asylum seekers from countries most at risk (countries with a high rate of international protection in France) will be able to work immediately. A list of these countries will be drawn up every year. Normally, asylum seekers are only allowed to work six months after submitting their application.
Ban on working without permission
A new administrative fine of a maximum of 4,000 euros per employee (doubled in the event of a repeat offense) will penalize employers who abuse irregular workers. This fine is in addition to the criminal and administrative sanctions that already exist. Foreigners who create a self-employed business, in particular, to work as a subcontractor for collaborative platforms (meal deliveries, etc.), must be in a regular situation.
Asylum and litigation for foreigners
The new immigration bill creates “France Asylum spaces”, to offer asylum seekers a simplified administrative path between the various competent administrations (prefecture, French office for immigration and integration, French office for the protection of refugees and stateless persons). The government plans to gradually deploy this system, according to local needs and capacities, in order to rebalance the reception of asylum seekers on the territory.
The text also reforms the organization and litigation of asylum before the National Court for the Right of Asylum (CNDA), in order to speed up the processing of appeals against refusals of protection. The creation of territorial chambers of the CNDA (today only established in Montreuil in Seine-Saint-Denis) and the generalization of the single judge are planned. The college training will only be seized when the complexity of the case justifies it.
Finally, litigation for foreigners (which represents 40% of the activity of the administrative courts) is simplified. The number of standard litigation procedures is reduced from 12 to 4. This simplification is inspired by a report by a Council of State of March 5, 2020, entitled “20 proposals to simplify litigation for foreigners in the interest of all “(new window). To facilitate the holding of hearings, the use of video is also extended for foreigners held in administrative detention or in a waiting area.
Reinforced possibilities of removal
The bill relaxes the almost absolute protection against expulsion enjoyed by certain convicted foreign nationals who have been present in France for a long time or who have personal and family ties there (for example, the parent of a French or foreign child who entered France before the age of 13 ). These foreigners can now be expelled in the event of terrorism, harm to the fundamental interests of the State or incitement to hatred or discrimination. In the future, they may also be in the event of a final conviction for a crime or misdemeanor punishable by ten years or more in prison or five years in reiteration (for example for murder or rape). In the same way, the text facilitates the pronouncement by the judges of the additional sentence of banishment from French territory (crime or misdemeanor punishable by more than ten years in prison, serious violence against the police, etc.).
The text also reduces the protections against decisions requiring you to leave French territory (OQTF) in the event of a serious threat to public order, even when the foreigners concerned have ties in France (for example, foreigners residing regularly for more than 20 years old or foreign spouse of French for more than three years).
The ban on placing foreign minors under the age of 16 in an administrative detention center (CRA), including when they accompany adults. The government is translating the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on the subject. On the other hand, the conditions of detention of foreign minors aged 16 to 18 have not changed. The latter can always be placed in a CRA when they are accompanied by an adult foreigner.
Other measures to fight against irregular immigration complete the text: aggravation of the repression against smugglers and “sleeping merchants”, authorization of the use of coercion for the taking of the fingerprints of asylum seekers at the border, possible visual inspection by the border police of private cars in the “border zone” (and no longer only of vehicles with more than nine seats)
Integration and residence permits
Foreigners who apply for a first multi-year residence permit must have minimum skills in the expression of French. Currently, the residence permits, generally valid for four years, are issued on the sole condition of having followed an apprenticeship in French within the framework of the Republican integration contract. A minimum level of French is already required for the granting of a resident card (ten years) and for access to French nationality.
With the same objective of integration, employers will be able to offer their foreign employees the opportunity to follow a training course in French as a foreign language (FLE). These hours of training will be considered as effective working time.
For certain titles, this condition is not foreseen. If one of these principles is rejected, the prefectures may refuse, withdraw or not renew the residence permit.
The reasons for non-renewal or withdrawal of the residence card are extended to the serious threat to public order. In addition, an effective stay of six months per year in France will be imposed for the renewal of certain long permits.
To meet recruitment needs in hospitals and medico-social establishments, a new multi-year “talent – medical and pharmacy professions” residence permit has been introduced. It will benefit qualified practitioners from outside the European Union (PADHUE), doctors, midwives, dental surgeons, and pharmacists. At the same time, the competence to issue authorizations to practice in France for holders of a foreign diploma is decentralized to the regional level in order to speed up the processing of applications.