On Thursday the French Minister of Internal Affairs Nicolas Sarcosi presented to the committee of immigration control a draft law on immigration, which was passed despite heated debate and criticism of the introduced amendments. The project foresees a number of measures in the sphere of immigration control which sizeably hinder the stay of immigrants in France.

The Prime-Minister of France Dominique de Villepin claimed that the main objective of the draft law is to introduce new measures in controlling immigration which will provide for utilising the process to the good of France. According to the draft law the immigrants are to be subdivided into 2 classes. This will permit to determine the spheres of production in need of qualified workers and assign the immigrants of a certain class to them. It was pointed out that the immigrants able to work in the sphere of production, mechanics, hotel business, medicine and several other areas will be given priority. The new residence permit for immigrants is directed at facilitating the arrival of qualified working force which will promote the dynamic development of French economy. The immigrants of low qualification are to be granted a temporary one-year permit to be renewed for the term of the working contract. Qualified workers are given three-year permits which are likewise prolonged in accordance with the contract. Besides, the employer cannot take up a foreign worker for the vacancy claimed by a French citizen with the same qualifications.

According to the draft law foreign citizens studying in France may stay in the country only provided they find a job within six months after the graduation. The government’s reasoning is that foreign students have to return to the countries of their origin to utilize there the knowledge obtained in France.

The law complicates the process of families’ reunion and the mechanism of fighting sham marriages, provides for granting illegal immigrants a permanent residence permit provided they stay in France for 10 years. The draft is to be examined in Parliament as early as in Tuesday.

Paris saw a rally of protest against the draft law. Several thousand people went to the streets with the slogans “Together against exploiting immigration” and “Equal regulation”. The opponents of the law draft consider it not only to be “xenophobic” but also to violate the fundamental rights of a human being. They condemn the fact that only the economically rational immigrants will be employed, which leads to creating an image of an immigrant as an object which might be utilized for the country’s benefit.

Thus, the immigration policy depends on the situation at the labour market. Sarcosi assured the public that the new law will intensify the transition from non-qualified immigration to that of high qualification.

The process of reforming the present law corresponds to the obligations of France and other EU member-states to abolish the obstacles to the citizens from Central European EU states willing to be employed on the territory of their western neighbours. On Friday 12 European countries informed Eurocommission about their decision to liquidate such obstacles. But unlike other EU member-states France (along with Luxembourg and Belgium) adopts the obligation on certain conditions – namely, the permission will be granted only to the workers of those professions, which are in demand in France.