The immigration law brought by Gérald Darmanin was presented this Wednesday, February 1, 2023 during the Council of Ministers. Deportations, asylum applications, hiring… Here is what it contains.
“We want chosen immigration.” It is in these terms that Gérald Darmanin evoked the immigration bill, this Wednesday 1er February 2023, text presented that same day to the Council of Ministers. Through some twenty articles, the Minister of the Interior wishes to “control” the phenomenon by favoring economic immigration rather than family immigration. To this end, the articles included in the bill aim to facilitate certain expulsions but also to lighten administrative procedures in order to be able to work in France without having its nationality.
The bill will begin to be studied by parliamentarians in mid-March, in the Senate, before arriving on the benches of the National Assembly. Its adoption is not won in advance for the government, which is seeking an alliance with Les Républicains on this text, despite the dismissal opposed, as it stands, by the right-wing party, because of the will of the executive to regularize certain undocumented workers. A central sticking point despite many other planned provisions.
Extended rules for deporting foreign offenders
This is the flagship subject of the bill carried by Gérald Darmanin and the government. The Minister of the Interior wants to toughen the law in order to be able to expel more foreigners who have committed acts of delinquency in France. But not all convictions will result in deportation. The text provides for such a decision for foreigners whose crimes and misdemeanors for which they have been found guilty are punishable by 10 years or more in prison, or for repeat offenses punishable by at least five years in prison.
In addition, the tenant of Place Beauvau intends to be able to evict an individual as soon as “facts constituting a serious threat to public order, public security or state security” have been recognized against him. Today, expulsion can only apply in the case of “attack on the fundamental interests of the State, terrorism or incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence.” A widening of the field of action therefore, coupled with the end of a salvo of protections which prevent the State from carrying out the expulsion of certain foreigners. For the aforementioned facts, foreigners who arrived in France before the age of 13, who have resided in France for more than 20 years or for more than 10 years and the spouses or parents of French nationals may now be subject to an Obligation to leave French territory (OQTF).
Expulsion decisions which, if the law were to be passed, could only be the subject of four appeals, against twelve currently.
Simplified asylum applications, fewer appeals
The other major aspect of the immigration law concerns the right to asylum. The objective is clearly to reduce the processing times for applications. To this end, Gérald Darmanin would like agents from the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Ofpra) to be present in the prefecture in order to support asylum seekers in their procedure. Currently, all agents are grouped together in a single center, in Fontenay-sous-Bois (Val-de-Marne), from where all requests are processed.
If the Ofpra rejects an asylum application, an appeal can be lodged with the National Court for the Right to Asylum (CNDA). Only, it is only installed on one site, in Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis). The Minister of the Interior wishes to decentralize this jurisdiction by opening sites in the regions to facilitate the examination of appeals. Moreover, with the aim of accelerating administrative procedures, the decisions of the CNDA could no longer be taken, in the event of a vote on the law, by a single judge, against a collective vote at present.
Hiring of foreigners facilitated for certain professions
Faced with the recruitment difficulties of certain professional sectors, the government intends to broaden the possibilities of hiring the companies concerned by facilitating the employment of certain foreigners. Undocumented migrants who are authorized to work in “shortage jobs” could obtain a residence permit by issuing eight payslips and three years of presence in France. An administrative simplification taking into account the 24 payslips, three years of presence in France and promise of hiring an employer currently necessary. However, the list of “short-term occupations” has not yet been finalized.
The executive also wishes to facilitate the arrival in France of doctors, midwives, dental surgeons and pharmacists, graduates outside the European Union, in public or private non-profit health establishments. To this end, a “talent” residence permit valid for four years could be issued.
Finally, asylum seekers from certain particularly unstable countries would be authorized to work as soon as they file their asylum application, without waiting for the six months currently required.
Level of French, fingerprinting and administrative retention
Gérald Darmanin’s bill also aims to “condition the first issue of a multi-year residence permit to the mastery of a minimum level of French.” Today, a simple participation in training is enough. It also plans to make coercive fingerprinting possible, to tighten the residence condition for the renewal of long-term permits or to prohibit the administrative detention of minors under 16 years of age.