Foreign Workers in France Face Ongoing Hurdles for Residence Permits

Delays in processing first-time application files, difficulty in getting an appointment for renewal, recorded at the prefecture level, new tightening of regularization conditions, including the Retailleau circular, applied since last January... The suffering persists for foreign workers in regular situations wishing to renew their residence permit or undocumented workers wishing to obtain the precious sesame.

Even if the undocumented worker, whose profession is on the list of shortage occupations, meets the criteria including pay slips issued by employers, their regularization request will always be subject to the prefect’s assessment, who will decide their fate. This sad reality has also provoked the irritation of about 150 undocumented workers. Supported by a broad Parisian inter-union, they marched in the streets of Paris last Wednesday, reports L’Humanité. This demonstration had initially been banned by the Paris prefecture, before being allowed to take place in Châtelet. "Without them, our city would not stand," the unions assert.

The ordeal of foreign workers applying for residence permits is not only about the Paris prefecture, but all of France, it is pointed out.