The immigration bill is examined in the National Assembly from December 11, 2023. After having been toughened by the Senate and softened in the Law Committee, what measures are provided for in the text?
Gérald Darmanin’s hobby horse, the immigration bill has caused a lot of discussion. Announced, rethought, then postponed, it finally began the legislative journey in the fall of 2023. And here again, the bill follows a turbulent path. After a week of debates in the Senate, the text of the Minister of the Interior – presented as a compromise between a firmer immigration policy and better integration measures – was adopted in a clearly toughened version under the impetus of the right who judged the initial project too lax.
The right is satisfied with the amended bill, it is the left and the left aid of the majority who worked in the Law Committee to soften the text and remove numerous decisions of the Senate. Result of the races: the bill arrives in a version barely harsher than at the start, which satisfies neither the right nor the left and whose adoption by the National Assembly is far from guaranteed. The examination of the text by the deputies begins on Monday, December 11 for at least 15 days of debate. At least, if the rejection motion tabled by environmentalists is not voted on before the start of examination of the text.
At the genesis of the immigration bill is the desire to have “chosen immigration” in the words of the Minister of the Interior when he defended his project for the first time in February 2023. The idea is to proceed more easily to exclusions, to issuing fewer but better residence permits and better welcoming foreigners in a legal situation. Concretely, where is the text and what does it provide?
The latest information
Rules to facilitate the expulsions of certain foreigners
This is the key subject of the immigration bill: better control of the presence of foreigners on the territory, particularly delinquent foreigners. Upon arrival at the National Assembly, the text provides for the possibility of expelling foreigners convicted of crimes punishable by at least five years of imprisonment and individuals constituting “serious threats to public order”. In these cases, expulsions will even be possible for people who arrived in France before the age of 13. The Senate lowered the threshold for foreigners sentenced to 3 years in prison, but the measure was deleted in the Law Committee. On the other hand, the senators managed to add to the bill the legalization of expulsions of foreigners convicted of domestic violence or committed against an elected official.
In addition to expulsions, the conditions for issuing obligations to leave French territory (OQTF) have been relaxed. The initial text planned to lift all protections preventing the use of an OQTF against foreigners considered to be “a serious threat to public order”. But the Senate lifted this final condition on the threat to public order, thereby removing all protections against an OQTF. Only minors can still be protected against this expulsion procedure according to the current text. Regarding minors, the bill also provides for a ban on placing foreign minors under the age of 18 in detention centers.
The Senate wanted to go so far as to issue OQTFs to rejected asylum seekers, but the measure was removed by the deputies. Note that these OQTFs, once issued, require the individual to leave France by their own means within a period of 30 days before the expulsion is, theoretically, carried out. As for appeals against these decisions, they are limited to four by the new bill, compared to twelve today.
Regularization through work and obtaining residence permits
“Choose immigration” involves selective issuance of residence permits. On this point, the bill provides for several measures, some of which are intended to facilitate the regularization of certain foreigners, starting with those who work in so-called “shortage” professions: a divisive point in the text. This measure is still planned although toughened by the Senate. It allows “exceptional” – and not automatic – regularizations after verification by the prefect for foreigners who have worked eight months out of the last 24 in “shortage” professions. In addition to these professions, other professions could allow highly qualified foreigners in certain disciplines to obtain a “talent” residence permit valid for four years, particularly in the medical field.
The text also provides for the granting of residence permits to foreigners who are victims of “sleep merchants” who have filed a complaint as well as to undocumented immigrants who are victims of working conditions incompatible with human dignity. However, in certain cases access to the residence permit has been tightened, in particular for foreign students who will, if the text is passed as it stands, have to justify the “seriousness of their study” to renew their permit each year.
To deliver these residence permits better and more quickly, the bill provides for a reform and decentralization of the National Court of Asylum (CNDA), the administrative jurisdiction which examines the appeals of asylum seekers rejected by the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Ofpra), with the opening of regional branches. And decisions must be taken by a single judge and no longer a panel of three judges. According to the text, asylum requests must also be facilitated by support between the different administrations thanks to the “France asylum” territorial centers.
More difficult access to social assistance and family reunification?
The measures for access to social assistance for foreigners became significantly tougher after the passage of the text before the Senate, but many of the senatorial modifications were deleted in the Law Committee:
- The abolition of state medical aid (AME) and its replacement by emergency medical aid (AMU) giving access to a reduced list of care and against the payment of an annual flat rate;
- The extension of the length of regular stay in France to five years compared to six months to be eligible for certain social assistance;
- The removal of access to emergency accommodation for foreigners covered by an OQTF;
- The extension of the length of regular stay in France, the addition of regular income conditions and at a certain level, the obligation to have health insurance and to master the French language to be able to request family reunification. On this point only the extension of the length of stay and the income conditions have been removed, but the obligation to present clean criminal records has been added.
Hardened access to French nationality
The Senate, following the same logic, wanted to complicate the naturalization of foreigners and made obtaining French nationality conditional on an extension of the required duration of marriage (5 years instead of 4) or an extension of the duration of residence ( 10 years versus 5). He also decided to abolish land law for children born in France to two foreign parents. But all these measures were deleted in the Law Committees.
The fact remains that senators and deputies have agreed to make it harder to obtain French nationality for children born in Mayotte: the two foreign parents of a child born in Mayotte must prove a longer period of residence in France for their offspring is naturalized. The text also provides for the limitation of family reunification to the nuclear family only, that is to say parents and minor children.