Bad news for undocumented immigrants in France

The French government wants less regularization of undocumented immigrants. A text was adopted to this effect to toughen conditions.

It will no longer be possible for prefectures to regularize more than 30,000 undocumented immigrants per year. The Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, adopted a text which toughens regularizations and aims to reduce the flow of regularizations by around a third, or 20,000. In a circular to the prefects, it increased from five years to ” at least seven years” the duration of presence required on French territory for a foreigner who requests papers for exceptional admission to stay. “A length of presence of at least 7 years constitutes one of the relevant integration indices,” writes the minister. “The exceptional admission to residence of a foreigner in an irregular situation can only take place in the absence of a threat to public order,” specifies Retailleau, calling on the prefects “to systematically combine the refusal of residence with a measure requiring people to leave French territory.”