Muslim Professionals Leaving France Amid Rising Discrimination, Study Finds

A massive exodus of qualified Muslims from France to the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada or Dubai (United Arab Emirates) is increasingly being observed, according to a new study by the University of Lille, led by Professor Olivier Esteves. Of the 1,074 Muslims surveyed as part of this study, more than two-thirds admit to having left France to practice their religion more freely and 70% say they have immigrated to avoid being victims of racism or discrimination. "France is losing these highly qualified talents because of a creeping institutional Islamophobia," Esteves lamented.

Natasa Jevtovic, 38, a financial project manager, moved to London in 2020 to seize better job opportunities that match her skills and to practice her religion more freely. Since her arrival in the country, she claims to be earning double the salary she was receiving in France and to have been promoted several times. Employed in a large French bank, she was threatened with dismissal after accusing her colleagues of discrimination. "No one wanted to talk to me for the next six months, I was simply shunned," she told Anadolu.

Muslim professionals are leaving France more because of the lack of religious freedom in the country, says Yasser Louati, a French political analyst and president of the French Committee for Justice and Freedoms for All (CJL), stressing that France is "the only loser" because "the people who are leaving France are essentially trained and educated in France at public expense, which means there is no return on investment." According to Yasser Louati, Muslims in France are victims of discrimination in education, hiring, home ownership (buying a house) or sometimes access to health care.

According to Muslims, the French government has adopted several laws since 2015 that restrict their religious freedom, including the law banning the wearing of the veil at work and the one instituting control of imams by the Executive. For Louati, these policies have created a culture of hostility that is at the root of "the rise of Islamophobia in the country." And he concludes: "Muslims are fully aware that they cannot completely escape prejudice in the West, but discrimination in the workplace or in general is more visible in France..."