InfoMigrants: What kind of cases are you currently following?

I’m working on cases filed by both foreigners and asylum seekers. I help foreigners know what kind of title they can get, since each title is granted under very restrictive conditions: you have to prove you have been in the country for a certain amount of time and that you respect certain conditions.

Foreigners file their requests at the prefecture. We are facing a huge problem because prefectures are overbooked and there are not enough people to study all the cases. Many people filed their cases months ago and still don’t have an answer. When someone waits 9, 10, or eleven months for an appointment, they cannot justify their presence in France, and they can have problems at work or school. Part of my job is to go before the public judge so they will force the prefecture to give an appointment to my client.

Where do your clients come from?

Mostly from Africa. I have clients from Pakistan and Sri Lanka who wish to regularize their situation in France. My clients who are asylum seekers can be from Africa, South America, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Their reasons for seeking asylum can be very diverse. It can be a homosexual from a country where it’s illegal to be gay, women and girls facing the threat of female genital mutilation (FGM), or someone trying to escape an arranged marriage.

How does your job as a lawyer for asylum seekers differ from that of a lawyer for foreigners?

My job as a lawyer for asylum seekers is very different. I mainly help them with their interview with the Ofpra (Office français de protection des réfugiés et apatrides), the French office for the protection of refugees. If their request is denied, they can make a request before the CNDA (Cour nationale du droit d'asile), the National Asylum Court. The court is currently in Montreuil (an eastern suburb of Paris) but a new law has stated that there will five territorial courts across France. All requests will soon be made before one judge, rather than three. It’s going to be more difficult with one judge, because once a decision has been made – it’s over. There is no debate.

What do you make of the circular published on January 23 by the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau which aims to tighten the conditions for the regularization of undocumented workers?

It will change a lot for many people. It marks a clear departure from the Valls circular [named after former prime minister Manuel Valls who issued the measure, editor's note] which had the positive aspect of striking a balance between regulation and humanity. It allowed roughly 30,000 people every year to regularize their situation because of work-related or family reasons [known as Admission exceptionnelle au séjour (exceptional admission to residence or AES)].

The new circular goes back on the exceptional admission to stay (AES) which the Valls circular provided as a possibility to come to France. Also, it increases the length of time one has to be in France before getting a title, from five to seven years.  

What kind of problems do you foresee?

The Retailleau circular is only three pages long. This opens the door to arbitrary decisions from prefects. It’s difficult for example to understand the level of French people will need to obtain papers. Valls stated that people needed a basic level of French to stay. Retailleau is going further, and asking foreigners to provide prefects with a French certificate. We don’t know what level will be needed, but we can guess it’s going to be quite high as a way of being more demanding of someone’s level of integration.

The new measures also risk harming certain sectors of the economy. I know that restaurant trade unions are against the circular because they are not going to survive: a third to half of all people working in the industry are undocumented. 

Why is the interest for the government to apply a series of measures rather than announcing a broader immigration law?

This is a political matter because the government currently has no majority in parliament to pass a new law. Retailleau wants to send a sign to the right and far right that he intends to fight against illegal immigration. Yet there are schisms within the government. The Minister of Economy Eric Lombard recently said France needs labor migration. There is a lot of economic activity supported by migrants that we don’t see as customers.

Prime Minister François Bayrou echoed the far right on January 27 when he referred to a feeling taking root in France of being “flooded” by immigration. What do you make of the prime minister's remarks?

This is a false idea conveyed by the extreme right. To dispel these misconceptions, we need to look at the data. France is far from being affected by immigration, according to Eurostat data from 2022. It is far behind Malta, Luxembourg and Iceland. France was in fact the country in Western Europe with the lowest immigration rate in 2021. What Bayrou said is an opinion but not the truth.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.