Immigration Bill: Government Wants to Create Residence Permits for Foreign Guardians

Details become clearer as the deadline approaches. The government’s immigration bill is due before the Council of Ministers in January before being considered in the Senate and then the National Assembly in early 2023. Among the 27 articles of the final text, number 7 concerns the health sector. He proposes creating residence permits for “talented medical professions and pharmacies” to, in the government’s view, attract foreign doctors in particular and “meet the need for recruitment” in the struggling sector.

This new multi-year residence permit covers doctors “regardless of their specialty”, midwives, dental surgeons and pharmacists, according to a text sent to the Council of State on Monday. It is intended for healthcare professionals and their families “as soon as they are hired by a public or private non-profit healthcare institution.”

This “would improve the clarity and attractiveness of residency rights for these skilled groups, taking into account the challenges of verifying the ability of foreign professionals to work in the hospital sector.” Thus, the text provides that the issuance of the title is subject to the authorization of the Regional Health Agency. Its duration, from one to four years, will depend on the practitioner’s EVC test, knowledge test.

Sector in crisis

Following the government’s already announced “lack of jobs” residence permit in response to sectors with labor shortages, this new “talented medical and pharmaceutical professions” card completes the “integration” component of the project. “improved integration” led by Home Secretary Gérald Darmanin and Labor Minister Olivier Dussaud.

“This title is aimed at meeting the need for the recruitment of qualified medical personnel in medical institutions or medical and social institutions”, in particular, because at present these foreign medical practitioners cannot always be hired “due to the lack of a residence permit , which fully meets the specifics of these situations. , the performer justifies.

The health sector has been in crisis for several years now, with staff shortages and layoffs tied together due to harsh working conditions. In France, 1 out of 10 people does not have a general practitioner. To make matters worse, a quarter of general practitioners are over 60 years old. Seeing France’s “deplorable geographic and financial access to healthcare” is undeniable, the UFC-Que Choisir stressed last November. “A quarter of women and a quarter of children live respectively in a gynecological hospital and a pediatric hospital,” the association especially laments.