There is no longer any doubt: Bruno Retailleau wants stricter rules on immigration. The French minister of the interior published a circular on January 23, addressed to prefects across the country which will tighten the rules for obtaining residence permits in exceptional circumstances. Also known as "exceptional admission to residence" (AES), numerous undocumented migrants count on this route to obtain their papers.

Retailleau has already said several times that he wished to "replace" a text that is known as the "Valls circular." This existing text allowed foreigners to obtain a residence permit if they fulfilled certain economic conditions or had family reasons for applying.

InfoMigrants takes a look at the new measures contained in the document. 

A circular to be applied by prefects 

"This new circular is a reminder that regularization is not a right. It must remain exceptional," said Retailleau at a recent press conference. Out of 450,000 undocumented migrants in France in 2023, 34,734 people were regularized through the AES route, according to data released by the Ministry of the Interior. This number represents slightly less than 8 percent of all the undocumented migrants in the country.

"They [the government] are implying that the Valls circular, barely applied by the prefectures, is regularizing undocumented immigrants en masse. This is nonsense," said Stéphane Maugendre, a lawyer specializing in immigration, to InfoMigrants in October.

Retailleau's new measures will revoke the Valls circular, which was named after former interior minister Manuel Valls, and has existed since 2012. Yet both the new and former circulars are not laws. "This is a simple letter that prefectures receive, they can follow it or ignore it," said Maugendre. In other words, prefects are not obliged to apply the circular. "The circular simply gives directions and points of reference to the prefects," said Retailleau last month.

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'Control migratory flows'

The Retailleau circular does not change the procedure for undocumented migrants to obtain a residence permit. The new document is three pages long, compared to 12 in the previous text. It has little specific criteria, unlike the 2012 roadmap. It depends instead on the procedures set out in the French immigration law, approved by lawmakers in December 2024.

In general, the new measures strike certain specialists in immigration law with their "vagueness".

"This new circular, which claims to be precise, is not. We do not understand the criteria which will allow people in an irregular situation to apply for regularization," said Aurore Krizoua, of the French non-governmental organization Cimade, that works with migrants and on the issue of migrant rights.

The difference between the Retailleau and the Valls circulars is in the tone and wording. While the document written in 2012 aims for the "promotion of a lucid and balanced immigration policy," the new text emphasizes the "control of migratory flows, in particular by combating irregular immigration."

On a broader spectrum, the "level of requirement in terms of integration of foreigners into our society must be strengthened," said the Minister of the Interior. 

Undocumented workers in sectors 'under strain' to be prioritized 

According to the new measures, prefects should issue residence permits to undocumented workers in sectors experiencing labor shortages – these jobs are detailed in a 2021 document. [The Ministry of Labor will issue an updated list by the "end of February."] Regularization will therefore be based on France’s labor needs, rather than the personal and family motives of undocumented foreigners. 

The Immigration law created a one-year residence permit for "temporary workers" or "employees". The procedure for regularization is carried out only at the request of the foreign worker. The employer does not have to provide any documents or pay any taxes, which was the case under the Valls circular. The foreign worker must meet the following conditions:

• having exercised a salaried professional activity which appears in the list of sectors 'under strain' for at least 12 months, consecutive or not, over the last two years.
• proof of an uninterrupted period of residence of at least three years in France.

The prefect must take additional elements into account, such as social and family integration, respect for public order, integration in society and "respect for the principle of the Republic." These are concepts that already appeared in the Valls circular.

Despite the legal framework of the law, the prefect can still use his discretionary power to reject an application without justification.

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Regularization on family grounds to be reduced

For all other cases, Retailleau is reinforcing the immigration rules by ordering prefects to adopt a stricter approach. By implementing a "drop by drop" regularization approach, the new circular requires foreigners to have stayed in France "at least seven years" before they can request regularization through the AES, compared to five or three years before. "Those who haven’t reached seven years in France clearly risk having their application rejected", said Maugendre.

The Valls circular allowed undocumented foreigners to obtain a renewable one-year "private and family life" residence permit. This is still the case with the new roadmap, even if the three-page text does not specifically mention it.

For this type of residence permit, it was necessary to be a parent of children who have been in school for at least three years, the spouse of a foreigner who had been regularized, or a minor who had become an adult and could prove "a diligent and serious educational background since at least the age of 16". People who could prove their lives were in danger (for example, victims of domestic violence or human trafficking) could also obtain a residence permit on humanitarian grounds.

Yet Retailleau’s instructions to prefects are to, "privilege the legal route for a residence permit based on family reasons." The order is therefore to reduce the number of regularization cases granted based on these grounds. "This circular will remove the motive of 'private family lives' from the measures for regularization," said Maugendre.

According to data from the Interior Ministry, 11,525 people in an irregular situation obtained a residence permit in 2023 through their work and 22,167 were regularized for family reasons. These statistics combined made up two thirds of the total number of those who had opted for regularization through AES. Retailleau appears to be trying to reduce the number to a minimum amount. A prefect in an interview with Le Figaro foresaw, "8,000 to 10,000 fewer regularized people based on 'private and family life motifs' under the new circular."

Reinforced criteria for integration

Retailleau also mentioned "integration criteria" for all applicants for AES, including:

• a "contract of commitment to respect republican principles", such as gender equality, secularism, freedom of expression, etc.
• proof of mastery of the French language (a French diploma or a language certification), while the Valls circular simply requested "a basic oral mastery of the French language".

"Once again, we do not know exactly what level of French will be required. If it is A1, A2, B2...," said Krizoua.

• not to be a threat to public order, as was already the case in the previous text.
• if the person in an irregular situation was already an object of an unexecuted Obligation to Leave the Territory (OQTF) --an expulsion measure for foreigners, the prefect may refuse to grant them a residence permit.

Finally, the circular contains another major new feature: in the event of refusal of the regularization request, the prefect must "systematically" issue an OQTF to the undocumented foreigner concerned.