New French Language Requirements Threaten Thousands with Deportation

The advanced application of the Darmanin law on written French exams, scheduled for July 2025, will be detrimental to many foreigners living and working in France who wish to obtain or renew their residence permits. They must pass and pass a written test of the French language. "For a residence permit of 2 to 4 years, the college level will have to be validated, for a 10-year card, the high school level is required and for French nationality, a university level is required," it is specified. The foreigner who fails to reach the college level after three years will become deportable. According to the Ministry of the Interior, nearly 20,000 immigrants risk losing their residence permits and 40,000 others will be denied the resident card, reports France24.

This new rule is controversial. Félix Guyon, general delegate of the Thot school for refugees and asylum seekers, points out that it is a "much too high level for most foreigners who want to apply for naturalization or a long-stay permit in France". A France 2 survey also shows the degree of difficulty of the levels required for nationality. The channel asked 10 French volunteers to take the test. The finding is clear: "five of them did not pass the written test, and two completely failed the test". If French people have failed the test to obtain their own nationality, when French is not a person’s mother tongue, the chances of success are slim, explains the general delegate of the Thot school, which helps foreigners prepare for the exam.

To pass this test, "it takes 2,000 to 3,000 hours in terms of learning French. It’s really unattainable," he estimates.

300,000 people in regular situation in France will be subject to these new language tests which will be implemented before the end of 2025. Avoiding them means losing the residence permit.