Immigration law: benefits, asylum rights, integration… these provisions were voted on in the Senate

It’s been a long and sometimes busy week at the Luxembourg Palace. Since November 6, the immigration bill, championed by the Home Secretary, has been in the hands of senators. If the ceremonial vote doesn’t take place until next Tuesday, the amendments have already been passed over the past few days – and nights. And the passage of the project through the upper house led to tightening, which Gerald Darmanin did not like.

“Senators have enriched the text, which reflects the essential balances we have struck,” the Home Office welcomed this Friday at the end of the debate. At Bovo Square we also said that we were “satisfied” that in a week the Senate, mainly from the right, had found “compromises on almost all issues.” “The Assembly will do its job,” we continue to promise, while the government only has a relative majority and the left is determined to rebalance the text after major changes.

• Section 3 transformation

This was one of the main articles, but its change is not a surprise since the right-wing majority in the Senate has expressed its opposition. Article 3, which was supposed to allow the issuance of residence permits “as of right” to undocumented workers in industries with labor shortages, was removed and replaced with a more restrictive version.

Article 4 bis now provides that undocumented workers working in shortage occupations will be able to obtain a one-year residence permit “in exceptional cases.” The procedure on the part of the prefects is accompanied by many conditions, such as twelve months of work within the last two years or respect for the “values ​​of the Republic”. One idea remains for now: workers will be able to apply for regularization on their own, without receiving approval from the employer, who is not always interested in this.

Article 4, which provided for a work permit when applying for asylum to foreigners from certain countries, was deleted.

• Simplified eviction

The text provides that, in the event of a serious threat to public order or national security, most of the protection from deportation enjoyed by some immigrants (except minors), including those who arrived in France under the age of 13 or who are living in territory for more than twenty years.

These provisions, which the government had already sought, were tightened by the senatorial majority of the right and center. They target people convicted of crimes or misdemeanors punishable by imprisonment of five years or more.

According to Bovo, as Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin wished after the attack on Arras in mid-October, revoking the residence permit of a person who “adheres to radical jihadist ideology” is also permitted by the text. In addition, senators banned the detention of minors under 16 years of age in pre-trial detention centers.

To facilitate the “effective implementation of removal decisions”, The senators propose that development assistance be conditional on third countries issuing “consular passes” required for deportation.

• End of AME

Senators decided to eliminate the American Assistance Benefit (AME), which covers health care costs for people in irregular situations, in favor of “urgent care” focused on “serious illnesses,” maternity care or even required vaccinations.

This change in size is causing the medical profession to jump. A complaint was even filed in the Doctors’ Order for violation of the Public Health Code against two senators of the Republic of Lithuania, also doctors by profession, who voted to abolish AME.

The government says there is “no place” for changes on this issue in the immigration bill. “I don’t want this to be in the text that goes to the National Assembly,” the interior minister assured this week.

• Changing the terms of payment of benefits

Here again, this measure caused numerous reactions, although the vote on the amendment practically went unnoticed. If the senators’ version is adopted, foreigners will have to prove five years of residence to be able to take advantage of benefits such as personal housing assistance (APL) or family allowances, up from six months currently.

• Other hardenings

The bill reviewed and amended by senators now plans to “tighten the criteria for family reunification,” in particular by tightening the applicant’s living conditions and resources. They also want to end the automaticity of land legislation allowing children born in France to foreign parents to acquire French citizenship upon reaching adulthood, establish “migration quotas” or even reinstate the crime of illegal residence (accompanied only normally).

In the integration aspect, the Senate has established at level A2 the minimum level of French language proficiency required to obtain a multi-year residence permit.

• Asylum reform

The government has implemented structural reform of asylum with the dual aim of speeding up procedures and expediting expulsions, while the OQTF (obligation to leave French territory) compliance rate has fallen to 6.9% in the first half of 2022.

One of the measures passed by senators aims to issue an OQTF immediately after an asylum application is rejected at first instance, without waiting for a possible appeal. Moreover, they simplified the debate even more than the original text intended. Twelve procedures now allow you to challenge deportation: they have been divided into three.

• Rare social achievements

Some measures that the Senate right had intended to repeal were reinstated within a week, such as tougher penalties for employers of illegal labor and an obligation on employers to arrange working hours for certain employees so they could take French lessons.

Final success Friday: vote on an amendment aimed at granting temporary residency to undocumented immigrants who file complaints against their landlords for abusing substandard housing conditions, to combat slumlords.