France introduces new immigration bill after constitutional amends

By Moustafa Daly

After an extensive political process, the French Senate voted in favor of a new immigration bill.

Last week, the country’s constitutional court struck down some of the bill’s contentious provisions, including immigration quotas, limiting immigrants’ access to social welfare, and restricting their ability to bring their families.

“Much of the bill presented by President Emmanuel Macron's government was upheld,” says Clarisse Delaitre, immigration attorney at Majorelle Avocats. “But additions made under pressure from the right and far-right were censured.”

Yet, the bill also makes it easier to “deport foreigners considered undesirable,” Delaitre adds.

Working in France under the new immigration law 

Although it introduced stricter language requirements for residency applicants, France has also taken steps to relax its policies pertaining to those on short-staffed occupations like construction, catering, and home staff, explains Delaitre.

As such, undocumented workers in those fields now have a route to obtain a temporary worker or employee residence permit on an “exceptional basis.”

“They will have to prove that they have worked for at least 12 months (consecutive or otherwise) in the last 24 months and that they have been residents in France for 3 years, and that they have integrated,” she adds. “Prefects will have discretionary powers to grant the permit. This measure will be tested until the end of 2026.”

France’s Talent Passport was also revamped

Also, non-EU professionals in the pharmaceutical and medical fields now have access to a four-year talent visa in France.

By revamping its Talent Passport intended for skilled non-EU labor, France has streamlined the scheme and grouped the previous three categories into one. “The three categories of master’s degree holders, young innovative companies, employees on assignment, are now merged into a single category called ‘qualified employee-talent,’” says Delaitre.

Moreover, the law seeks to address illegal employment on online platforms by obliging those doing business online to obtain a card authorizing them to work under an “auto-entrepreneur” status, she adds.

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