Blogging from Prague #3

France provides an interesting comparison for any course on comparative immigration policy. Family unification is the most important channel of legal immigration for migrants from outside the EU. Today, the mass source of new immigrants is from Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, and from sub-Saharan Africa.

Citizenship rules have changed over time. Today, a child is French if at least one of the parents is French. A child born in France of foreign parents who permanently resides in France automatically acquires French nationality upon reaching legal adulthood unless he or she declines this possibility.

When the emergency of the Front National leader Jean Marie Le Pen, France has definitely become more conservative on immigration policies. As of early 2009, France decided to restrict family reunification procedures by introducing an integration test (and a language course) in the country of origin as a prerequisite for an immigration visa.

Conservative policies are problematic for the children of former immigrants who race high unemployment, low chances of social ascension, and discrimination. Riots in the suburbs of the big French cities in 2005 were considered by many the proof that the French model had failed.

The acquisition of French nationality through naturalization is not a right but a discretionary decision taken by the administration; about one-fourth of applications are refused on the grounds of insufficient knowledge of the French language or unstable financial resources.

Tension between the French Republic and its citizens an inhabitants of Muslim belief is severe. However, n the past year, France has undergone some major changes in its immigration policy. New French Interior Minister, Manuel Valls, has implemented a more welcoming immigration policy. Many critiqued previous Interior Minister Claude Gueant’s policies as being “random and discriminatory.” Naturalization had dropped from 2010 to 2011 drastically as a result of these practices, which included more discretion afforded to local offices, and less objective criteria. The new Minister is Spanish and was naturalized himself about thirty years ago. He feels that the naturalization process should be more of an integration process, rather than create numerous hurdles that one has to overcome to become naturalized. Valls announced that he would be eliminating the naturalization requirement of passing a test on French culture and history.

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