French Town Halls Accused of Obstructing Mixed Marriages

"The civil servant was very arrogant. Right away, he told me he wouldn’t take my file," explains Louane* to StreetPress. In 2019, this psychology student had gone to the town hall of the 15th arrondissement of Paris with her marriage file. She had met Abdel* during her vacation in Morocco. After four years of relationship and the difficulty for her boyfriend to obtain a visa for France, they decided, during the summer of 2018, to officially start their life together in Paris. A real battle for Louane. The arrogance of the civil servant does not dampen the morale of the young woman. She shows him the text of the law that authorizes her to file the marriage application in the absence of the future spouse. The administrative employee finally gives in. However, he would have given his opinion on mixed marriages. "Couples like you, I know them: it won’t work and in three years you’ll be divorced," comments the civil servant.

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Abdel, for his part, is summoned for a hearing at the French consulate in Tangier, Morocco. Louane would be received by Jean-Manuel Hue, the elected official of the 15th known for his fight against "white and gray marriages". "He explains to me that his goal is not to see if we love each other, but to see if my partner is able to integrate in France." The young woman "would have spoken of the job promise made to Abdel, before the marriage was accepted." What the future bride regrets: "I felt that this hearing was a migration filter, a way to identify if my husband met their ’good foreigner’ conditions." Contacted by phone, the deputy mayor claims to have never made these remarks. Jean-Manuel Hue estimates the number of hearings he has conducte