France weighs six-month work requirement for residence permits
A bill to be considered this Monday, November 9, in France would grant residence permits to foreign nationals who have worked for six months in the past two years. The reform could affect hundreds of thousands of undocumented people, but its application to Moroccan nationals raises a particular legal question.
Six months of employment, consecutive or not, during the past twenty-four months: that is the central condition in bill No. 3253, submitted on October 6, 2026, by Socialist deputy Paul Christophle and several of his colleagues. The bill, to be considered by the National Assembly’s law committee this Monday at 4 p.m., provides that this employment may be proven by any means.
On Bladi.net : 1987 France-Morocco Accord Could Exclude Moroccans From New Residency Path
If the reform were adopted, foreign nationals who meet this condition would automatically receive a residence permit bearing the designation “employee,” together with work authorization. The scheme would also apply to people in an irregular situation. It sets no explicit requirement for a permanent contract, employment in an occupation facing labor shortages, or a minimum period of residence in France.
The bill also waives the requirement to present a long-stay visa to obtain the permit. It provides for an exemption from the regularization visa fee, currently set at 300 euros. The bill’s authors estimate that around 300,000 undocumented workers could benefit from the measure.
Moroccans and the 1987 Franco-Moroccan agreement
A particular difficulty concerns Moroccan nationals. The Franco-Moroccan agreement of October 9, 1987, specifically governs the conditions for issuing employee residence permits. In March 2026, the Toulouse Administrative Court of Appeal upheld the ruling that a Moroccan national could not directly invoke France’s regularization procedure for workers in occupations facing labor shortages.
The new bill proposes adding Article L. 421-4-1 to the Code on the Entry and Residence of Foreigners. However, it does not specify how this new right would interact with the 1987 bilateral agreement. This question is decisive for Moroccan workers, whose applications for regularization on professional grounds are currently still subject to individual assessment by local prefectures.
This situation has already led to an order to leave France being upheld against a Moroccan employee who had proof of several years on permanent contracts. In that case, the judges had found that his employment did not constitute a sufficiently exceptional reason to grant him a residence permit.
On Bladi.net : France Regularizes Workers in Shortage Occupations, but a Franco-Moroccan Agreement Closes the Door
The bill is due to be debated in a plenary session on November 19. France’s Interior Ministry has said it opposes the reform, according to Le Monde on November 8. It says it is working with the Labor Ministry to draw up a new circular on regularizing workers employed in occupations facing labor shortages.
