In 2022, France issued more than 320,000 first residence permits, a historic record and an increase of more than 17% compared to 2021. The figures, published Thursday, January 26, by the Interior Ministry, show that immigration is rising. "We are resuming a long-term trend. The effects of the pandemic, which marked the migration flows in 2020 and 2021, are partially erased," the Interior Ministry said at a press conference. For comparison, 193,000 first permits were issued in 2012 and 172,000 in 2007. In total, 3.8 million foreigners now hold a residence permit in France. Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia are the main countries of origin.
"This does not make France the world's champion of immigration, neither in absolute nor in relative terms," said Jean-Christophe Dumont, an expert on international migration at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). By way of comparison, according to the OECD, Germany issued nearly 540,000 first residence permits in 2021 for a population of 83 million and Canada more than 400,000 first residence permits for 40 million inhabitants.
A notable fact in France, in 2022, was that while family and student immigration represent the two largest flows, the year-on-year growth was mainly attributable to students and labor immigration.
More than 52,000 permits were issued for economic reasons, mainly to employees and, to a lesser extent, to seasonal workers. "Economic immigration is up 45%, in direct relation to the needs of our economy during this period and a policy of attracting talent," said Eric Jalon, the director general for the Interior Ministry's Office of Foreign Residents. the French government's "talent passports", for highly qualified profiles, are up 44.5%, with nearly 18,000 of these permits issued in 2022.
More regularizations of undocumented workers
Echoing this dynamic, regularizations of undocumented workers also increased by 29%, with nearly 11,000 regularizations through work contracts, out of a total of more than 34,000 regularizations (which primarily concerned Algerians, Moroccans and Malians). "One of the challenges [for regularizing workers in professions where there are labor shortages] will be to adjust access to residency for people who are already working to our needs," said Jalon.
The government is expected to present its immigration bill to the Council of Ministers on February 1. It will include the creation of a residence permit for undocumented workers in sectors with labor shortages. Today, regularizations are decided on a discretionary basis by prefectures, which can rely on criteria listed in a ministerial decree from 2012 that sets out, among other things, conditions of seniority in the country or a minimum number of pay slips.
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