French Lawmaker Proposes Stricter Family Reunification Rules for Immigrants

The deputy from Puy-de-Dôme (MoDem) actually expressed herself through a free tribune published on lopinion.fr, stressing that France should respect the European directive of September 22, 2003 without having to relax its conditions.

According to her, a salary equivalent to 1.2 times the minimum wage does not constitute a "stable and sufficient resource to meet the needs" of a family of "six or more people", as currently provided for in Article R. 411-4 of the CESEDA.

To this end, she recommends "tightening the legal and regulatory conditions of reunification and then applying them without laxity".

The deputy also looked at the policy of welcoming students, which she asks to revise by adopting a selective approach.

"Given the legitimate constraint of our public spending, France could probably be more selective in the granting of visas and student residence permits," she writes. "France has always been a land of immigration, the situation is no longer the same as a century ago. It has been accompanied by the sudden emergence of communitarianism, a consequence of the ideology of multiculturalism and the primacy given to the individual over the citizen," continues the deputy.

On the side of associations, opinions differ. "For some, France would be ’too generous’ and ’attractive’ in its reception procedures: the reality is quite different," deplore the associations.

According to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), the number of foreigners residing in France is currently 6.5 million, of which 4.3 million were born outside Europe. Moroccans are the second largest non-European foreign community, from Africa, residing in the country. 755,400 Moroccans are settled in France.