France Considers Easing Work Permits for Undocumented Migrants in Key Industries

Facilitate recruitment, particularly in the construction, catering or agriculture sectors, through the creation of a "shortage occupations" residence permit for undocumented workers already in France. This is one of the main measures of the future law on asylum and immigration that will be debated in the National Assembly next January, announced Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior. "Good news" for the apple growers of the Cher, whose long-expressed wish is to be able to hire undocumented workers. "It’s rather good news. It shows that you should never give up. Now, we still have to be vigilant," warns Pascal Clavier, president of the arboriculture section of the FDSEA of the Cher.

The other announcement made by the minister is the elimination of the six-month waiting period for asylum seekers, "six months during which they are not allowed to work," the recruitment needs being enormous. "This summer, we were really solicited from Morocco in particular with people who wanted to come to France, to work with us," Pascal Clavier tells francebleu. Obviously, we couldn’t sign contracts with them. Locally, we no longer find enough people to work in our orchards. These jobs are less interesting, because you have to give a lot. Jobs that seem so simple, that they are considered uninteresting by some."

"While we work on living things. And there, we have these candidates from abroad, who have suffered. Behind this suffering, they have the desire to find themselves in basic jobs, which do not require a bac+10, but simply courage and the desire to work. And we deprive ourselves of these courageous candidates. I hope that will change," he continues.