Migrants who go to the French Office of Immigration and Integration (OFII) to file a request for a residence permit, or for international protection, won’t be sent to French classes anymore to perfect their language level.

The signatories of the contract for republican integration (CIR), a document mandatory to obtain an initial residence permit in France, will be redirected toward an online platform with which they will need to learn French on their own.

Migrants were oriented in the past toward language courses of 100, 200 or 400 hours, according to their level in French and their educational background. From now on, only migrants who can’t speak or write in French, and who need 600 hours of training, will be able to access face-to-face learning. 

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A digital revolution 

A new platform will be launched in August, on which "the number of hours will no longer be limited, with monitoring of learning progress to support individuals," Didier Leschi, Director General of OFII, explained to InfoMigrants. "This new approach is advantageous for people who are already working, or who live far away from training locations, which would generate travel costs," he added.

Yet the digital revolution is worrying those involved in the sector. Marianne Bel, project manager for "French language learning" at the French non-governmental organization (NGO) La Cimade and a member of the inter-association collective Le Français pour tous, fears a "disruption in training." 

"The platform hasn’t been launched yet, therefore there are no more courses planned for July and August. The service provider will need two months to configure its platform, which will postpone the beginning of its operability to September," she said.

"Some time is needed for adaptation" and "there are arrangements to be made," said Leschi, but he suggested the platform would be launched on August 1. There will be "a month without classes," he conceded, but "at least there will be summer courses." 

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'This calls equal opportunities into question'

For Bel, these changes however are "a real deterioration in public service." She is concerned about the consequences of 100 percent remote learning for migrants: "It calls equal opportunities into question. You need time for online learning, a space of your own where you can isolate yourself to work and remain undisturbed...It's complicated."

The new system will replace French teachers with an artificial intelligence (AI) machine. It is a sign for Bel, of the "predicted failure of the OFII to accompany people in appropriating and mastering the French language." Her collective considers "learning a language cannot be separated from welcome and human interaction."

Associations also worry that migrants, already distanced from the school environment because of their migration history, will struggle learning by themselves in front of a screen. "Being alone is complicated. You must know how to organize learning," said Bel.

The director of Ofii defended the new approach, saying that distance learning is a tried and proven method: "it works very well; it’s used in countries like Germany. The NGO Libraries Without Borders uses these types of tools with a lot of success," he said. In Germany, for example, where the delivery of a residence card is conditional upon a B1 language level, along with online learning, the State provides 700 hours of training, according to the Senate’s impact study on the Darmanin law. 

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Associations likely to have to bridge the gap

This digital transformation is happening at a time when part of the 2024 immigration law, which will make French language requirements more demanding to obtain a residence permit, will be enforced between now and the end of the year. "Now, with the same number of hours, it will be necessary to obtain an A2 level. The language requirements are becoming stricter, but the public service is deteriorating. This is going to plunge certain people into irregular situations," said Bel.

According to the senatorial report, "some 15,000 to 20,000 signatories will be refused a residency card if an A2 level is required without modifying the number of hours of training proposed." The beneficiaries of international protection will not be affected by the measure "because they receive a residence permit linked to their status," said the report.

Cities and associations fear having to compensate for this shortfall in training. "People are going to have to face determining requirements to obtain their residence card – without adequate training. They are going to have to turn to voluntary associations," said the project manager at La Cimade, who fears the associations will be expected to somehow bridge the gap.