France Leads OECD in Converting Foreign Students to Skilled Workers

"52% of work permits issued were to people who were previously students. So it’s a super important channel for feeding skilled labor immigration," explains Jean-Christophe Dumont, head of the migration division at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Compared to Italy (46%) and Japan (37%), France is the OECD country that has issued the most work permits to former students.

France welcomes 80,000 foreign students each year, mainly from Morocco, China and Algeria, of whom nearly 25,000 move from student to worker status, with jobs that are rather in line with their level of qualification, according to Ouest France. This is thanks to the facilitations offered by the French authorities to students, in particular the exemption at the master’s level from the rigidities of the labor market test, which verifies the match between qualifications and the job sought.

"The difference with other immigrants is that here it is the university that selects, not the state or the employer," the specialist points out, adding that "the criteria are not the same." "But the needs of universities and the labor market are not the same either."