On January 26, the asylum and immigration law was promulgated in France. One of the most repressive laws of the last 40 years, with the exception of one measure, concerning undocumented workers. It aims to facilitate the regularization of those who work in sectors under pressure. That is to say, areas where employers have difficulty recruiting. Report in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, in an association that helps with administrative procedures.
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In the Paris region, the construction, cleaning and hotel and catering sectors are the most affected. The unions cynically called it the “Olympic Games” law, suspecting the government of facilitating hiring in the run-up to the world event. Six months later, it is clear that this measure was misnamed.
Every day of permanence, the association Human solidarity in France receives dozens of undocumented workers looking for information on the new conditions of regularization. This is the case of this young man employed in the cleaning sector who hopes to obtain a residence permit thanks to his work: ” You must have three years of service and 12 pay slips ” he explains to the microphone of Marie Casadebaigfrom the France service. Procedures simplified by the new law. Previously, workers needed the approval of their employer.
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Disappointed hopes
Édouard Traoré, the association’s secretary general, acknowledges progress but also many disappointed hopes in the face of the reality of the procedure. And this, on several counts: ” There is the law, of course, but the final decision rests with the prefect. And each prefecture is different from the other. The time limit, even just to be received for the first time, is at least 18 or even 24 months. And the person concerned is there, but he does not have the right to work. »
In Seine-Saint-Denis, we are therefore very far from the 90 days announced by the Minister of the Interior who had asked the prefects to make these priority issues.
Since February, out of the hundred or so cases filed by the association with the prefecture, less than fifteen have already resulted in regularization.
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