¾ Unskilled labour migration: domestic, agriculture, construction
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Unskilled workers / employees 643 579 884 917 848 719 732 721
of which domestic 71 64 80 37
agriculture 68 58 126 139
construction 103 96 112 141
Seasonal workers 7612 7929 10,794 13,543 14,566 15,743 16,242 17,204
of which agriculture 14,220 15,369 15,795 16,730
construction 4 9 3 5
Source: ANAEM
Following a drop of 22 % between 2002 and 2004, the number of unskilled foreign workers has remained at a stable but low level (approximately 700 people). Agriculture and the construction industry each account for 20 % of total foreign labour figures.
Foreign seasonal workers must be distinguished from unskilled workers. The former category has continued to grow by 6 % on average each year since 2002. Numbering 7612 in 1999, there are now more than double this figure, i.e. 17,204 people. Foreign seasonal workers are Polish in 58 % of cases and Moroccan in 36 %. 97 % of them work in agriculture.
¾ Regularisations
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 1997 regularisation operation 18,910 45,773 3322 163 65 66
Regularisation on as and when
basis 7242 10,308 10,116 11,048 16,252 20,703 19,968 27,722
minors resident in France since
age of 10 (para. 2) 1602 2306 1853 1770 1763 2798 2822 3002
resident in France since age of
10 (para. 3) 2326 2909 2699 2155 3846 3916 2927 2679
personal and family ties
(para. 7) 3314 5093 5564 7123 10,643 13,989 14,219 22,041
The regularisation operation of 1997 has not produced any new regular flows since 2002.
Regularisation procedures on an "as and when basis" rose sharply by 39 % in 2006 and reached their highest level since the mechanism was created. This large increase is mainly due to the growth of regularisation procedures for personal and family ties (+55 % compared with 2005). It should be noted that regularisation procedures are included in the statistics for first-time residence permits. Paragraph 3 was deleted in the LII and this reason for regularisation has therefore not been applicable since 26 July 2006.
¾ Naturalisations
The main principles related to the acquisition of French nationality are: acquisition by reason of birth and residency in France (including acquisition through early declaration), acquisition through declaration by reason of marriage with a French national and acquisition by decree at the request of a foreign national.
Under the new LII law, the required time period of spousal cohabitation for submitting a declaration of French nationality is extended from two to four years, and from three to five years if the foreign spouse cannot provide proof of uninterrupted and regular residence in France for three years, or cannot prove that the French spouse was registered on the register of French nationals living outside France during the period of spousal cohabitation abroad. The refusal period granted to the government in which to reject acquisition of French nationality by the foreign spouse, for inadmissibility or failure to assimilate other than for linguistic reasons, is extended from one to two years. The time period in which the Department of the Public Prosecutor can appeal to contest registration of a declaration of nationality by reason of marriage, is also extended from one to two years.
Acquisition of citizenship
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
147,522 150,026 127,548 128,092 144,640 168,826 154,827 147,868 Source: Ministry for Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Mutually-Supportive Development; Ministry of Justice
After several years of growth, the number of foreign nationals acquiring French citizenship has dropped somewhat since 2005 and stood at 147,868 in 2006. This trend is the result of two contrasting movements:
• between 2004 and 2005 (decline of 8.3 %), the general drop was due to a lower number of acquisitions through declaration (-23.8 %), particularly those filed by reason of marriage (-37.5 %).
• between 2005 and 2006 (decline of 4.5 %), the change in the flow of new French nationals is explained by two opposing trends: fewer acquisitions by decree (-13.7 %) and an increase in the number of those filed by reason of marriage (+36.0 %).
Since the end of the 1990s, acquisition of French nationality by decree has represented more than half of all acquisitions (60.5 % in 2006). At the same time, the number of informal acquisitions has dramatically decreased. These acquisitions are granted to young people of foreign origin born in France who acquire French nationality automatically when they come of age (at 18 years old). They are thus young people who have not made an early declaration of nationality, which is possible from the age of 13. A large number of foreign young people benefit from this procedure each year. The change in the number of new French nationals is largely the result of acquisitions by decree and through marriage:
these two methods represent the great majority of acquisitions (79.2 % in 2006).
Because we do not have any information on informal acquisitions, the following analysis is based only on recorded acquisitions, i.e. 98.3% of all acquisitions in 2006.
Acquisition of French nationality by decree
The change in the number of foreign nationals acquiring French citizenship each year depends on different parameters, in particular legislative changes and the activity levels of administrative services. The large increase in the number of acquisitions of French nationality by decree seen between 2002 and 2004 is thus largely due to a simplified mechanism for examining nationality acquisition applications. An action plan was implemented in January 2003, which made it possible to reduce the number of pending files in the Naturalisations Department and the time period in which applications were examined. Similarly, between 2005 and 2006, the drop in the trend is the result of recent legislative changes (the exemption of a five-year placement which existed for certain nationals was abolished) but also of a temporary slowing down in the activity of the Naturalisations Department as a result of the introduction of a new computer application.
The aim of this application, known as PRENAT (PREfectures – NATuralisations), is to allow all players in the chain examining applications for naturalisation by decree, to quickly and efficiently manage the procedure using a modern and interactive tool, and to provide the different administrative partners involved with a global and shared view of the application's progress. Already installed in the Naturalisations Department and the Civil Status and Nationality Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it will be operational in all relevant préfectures and sous-préfectures by the end of 2007. The tool will be adapted
to the procedure for acquisition of nationality by declaration by reason of marriage in 2008/2009.
Unmarried minors aged 18 years old acquire French nationality automatically at the same time as their parent(s) as a result of "the collective effect" if they have the same usual residence as their parents (or live with them on an alternating basis if the parents are separated) and if their name appears in the naturalisation decree or declaration (article 22-1 of the French Civil Code). The number of these effects is relatively large in terms of acquisition by decree and has significantly increased over the last few years (+7.8 % on average each year since 2001).
Acquisitions of French nationality by decree consist largely of naturalisations (in 88.4 % of cases in 2006), naturalisation being defined as a State granting the nationality of that State to a foreigner who applies for it. Reinstatement by decree (article 24-1 of the French Civil Code), allows people who have lost French nationality to recover it under certain conditions. The percentage of reinstatements within acquisitions by decree has remained relatively stable for several years at around 11 to 12 %. The drop in the overall flow observed between 2005 and 2006 had less effect on naturalisations than reinstatements (-12.8 % compared with -19.4 %).
Previous nationality of persons acquiring French nationality by decree
The drop in numbers observed between 2005 and 2006 had the biggest impact on Asian nationals (-22.1 %), the flow of which had already started to drop between 2004 and 2005 (-2.7 %). In this context of a reduced overall flow, only larger numbers of foreigners from a country in the Commonwealth of Independent States and to a lesser extent from sub-Saharan Africa acquired French nationality in 2006 (+18.1 % and +1.4 % respectively).
These changes reinforce the already significant weight of Africa which, in 2006, represented 69.5 % of all the previous nationalities acquiring French nationality, just under three quarters of them coming from the Maghreb. However, radical changes have occurred within the geographical distribution of Africans acquiring French nationality by decree: the weight of the Maghreb has gradually reduced in favour of the countries of sub-Saharan Africa previously under French administration. Thus, in 2000, the Maghreb (mostly Moroccans) and sub-Saharan Africa represented 92.3 % of the African flow (80.3 % for the first group and 12.0 % for the second). In 2006, this proportion had dropped slightly to 91.1 %, distributed between 72.6 % of North Africans and 18.5 % of citizens from sub-Saharan Africa (with a rapid rise in the numbers of new French nationals originating from Mali, Côte d’Ivoire and the Congo). Finally, despite numbers still being
low, the amount of people originating from the States of the CIS has more than quadrupled in five years (398 in 2001 and 1648 in 2006).
Distribution by sex and age of persons acquiring French nationality by decree
In 2006, people acquiring French nationality by decree, excluding collective effects, were on average almost 40 years old, with women being slightly younger than men (38.5 years compared with 41.3 years old respectively).
Collective effects largely affect young people, with this phenomenon gradually disappearing from the age of 13 because of the possibility of young foreigners born in France applying for French nationality in advance.
There are slightly more women than men in this population of new French nationals: the male ratio is lower than 100 each year, at a ratio of 97 men for every 100 women in 2006.
However, this average masks radical disparities in terms of the geographical origin of the person acquiring French nationality. Haitian women are granted French citizenship more frequently than their male counterparts, as are women from Mali, despite this imbalance being redressed over the last few years (the male ratio rose from 79 in 2001 to 101 in 2006). On the other hand, the ratio of men to women is higher among new French nationals naturalised by decree from Mauritania, Italy and Sri Lanka.
Previous nationality of persons acquiring French nationality by reason of marriage
Among people acquiring French nationality by reason of marriage, the numbers of nationals from the Commonwealth of Independent States (+47.9 %), Africa (+40.7 %) and Europe (+33.2 %) increased the most between 2005 and 2006.
Africa is still predominant, representing 65.2 % of the entire 2006 flow for a volume of 19,081 people acquiring citizenship. Seven out of 10 come from the Maghreb (and half are Algerians). Certain African countries such as Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire and Mali, despite lower numbers, are much more widely represented in 2006 than in 1995. When compared with acquisitions by decree, Europe has a significantly higher weighting (13.7 % in 2006), with residents of the European Union still being strongly represented: in 2006, three out of every ten new French nationals originating from Europe were Portuguese (1228 out of 4008). They are followed by nationals from Asia (9.3 %) and the Americas (8.0 %), the North American weighting within the continent having dropped significantly for several years (27.6 % in 2006 compared with 37.0 % in 1996).
Distribution by sex and age of persons acquiring French nationality by reason of marriage In 2006, people acquiring French nationality by marriage, excluding collective effects, were on average 35 years old, with women being slightly younger than men (34.4 years compared with 36.0 years old respectively).
Collective effects largely affect young people, with this phenomenon gradually disappearing as they come of age, the law stipulating that only minors can benefit from collective effects in the context of acquiring French nationality.
There are slightly more women than men in this population of new French nationals: the male ratio is lower than 100 each year, at a ratio of 95 men for every 100 women in 2006.
However, this average masks radical disparities in terms of the geographical origin of the person acquiring French nationality. Russian women are granted French citizenship significantly more frequently than their male counterparts (the male ratio was 79 in 2006 and has dropped consistently since 2001). On the other hand, the ratio of men to women is higher among new French nationals naturalised by marriage from Turkey and Tunisia.
Finally, after a relatively balanced situation, the last few years have seen an increase in the number of men originating from Portugal and Mali (the male ratio has increased from 114 and 104 in 2001 to 141 and 171 respectively in 2006).
Age and origin of persons acquiring French nationality by early declaration
Since the creation of this acquisition method in 1999, this flow has gone down consistently, perhaps as a result of the reduction in the number of young foreign nationals born in France of foreign parents. The same hierarchy is found among the major geographical groups with strong representation of African nationals, mostly originating from the Maghreb, followed by nationals from the European, Asian and American continents.
In 2006, more than seven out of ten people who acquired French nationality in advance were aged 13 to 15 years old (75.5 %). This percentage has grown each year: in 1999, it was only 45.7 %.
To conclude, two general observations can be made:
• over the years, the ratio of men to women among new French citizens is fairly balanced: from 50.0 % in 2000, the proportion of men drops to 49.4 % in 2006 (estimate);
• for several years now, new French citizens have been predominantly from Africa and more specifically from the Maghreb: in 2006, the first group represents 63.3 % of all acquisitions and the second group 46.8 %. Asian and European nationals,
including the EEA but excluding the CIS, represent almost three out of ten new French citizens, i.e. 15.3 % and 12.8 % respectively.
¾ Return migration
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Government assistance for
reintegration 749 626 644 761 947 675 647 151 Assistance for voluntary
repatriation - - - - - - - 1990
Humanitarian repatriation - - - - - - - 397 Source: ANAEM
The LII law perpetuates the mechanism for assistance for voluntary repatriation (ARV), which provides the right to administrative and social financial assistance. The mechanism for reintegration of foreign nationals asked to leave France is currently being absorbed into other mechanisms, while the mechanism for return assistance for foreign nationals who are in a "humanitarian repatriation" situation has been reintroduced. These forms of assistance affect different groups: jobless foreign nationals who want to return to their country of origin, foreign nationals who have been refused residency in France, foreign nationals with an economic reintegration project in their country of origin and cases of humanitarian repatriation. These four mechanisms were revised in an interministerial circular DPM/ACI3/2006/522 dated 7 December 2006.
The mechanism for reintegration of foreign nationals asked to leave France (1991)
This mechanism has remained unchanged in its essence since it was introduced in 1991.
It is intended for foreign nationals whose application for a residence permit or its renewal has been refused. Since 1998, and after an acceleration in use of the mechanism, the number of beneficiaries is a few hundred foreign nationals each year, and stood at 151 in 2006, consisting of 120 applicants and 31 accompanying persons.
The significant drop in the number of foreign nationals assisted in 2006 is explained by the creation of the assistance for voluntary repatriation mechanism (cf. below). It is mostly nationals from countries in sub-Saharan Africa, formerly under French administration, from the Commonwealth of Independent States and Eastern Europe who benefit from this assistance.
The assistance for voluntary repatriation mechanism (ARV)
An experimental programme of assistance for voluntary repatriation was introduced by interministerial circular DPM/ACI3/2005/423 on 19 September 2005. This programme targets undocumented foreign nationals and as a priority the families of rejected asylum
applicants. It started at the end of 2005 in twenty one pilot départements and has since been extended to all of the national territory.
The préfet manages coordination and organisation of the experimental mechanism in the relevant départements. The ANAEM is the body responsible for managing this procedure:
applications are sent to its delegations or the bodies that have been called upon by them.
The ANAEM is responsible for examining applications and paying the assistance allocated. An information booklet produced by the ANAEM and translated into English and Arabic is distributed by the préfectures for this new programme. The objective is to distribute information as far upstream as possible including on the arrival of asylum seekers in Centres d'Accueil des Demandeurs d'Asile (CADA - Asylum Seeker Reception Centres). The ANAEM also ensures that the travel documents of the applicant and their family are available and implements the necessary procedures with the relevant departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to obtain the consular passes produced by the return country.
After a slightly delayed start in 2005 (40 applications examined and 53 people assisted), 1433 applications were examined in 2006 and 1990 foreign nationals were provided with assistance. Six nationalities alone account for 58 % of the foreign nationals assisted:
Bosnia-Herzegovina (323 people), the People's Republic of China (295), Algeria (183), Moldavia (167), Russia (108) and Sri Lanka (79). Bosnians, Georgians and Russians leave most often as a family group (2.3 people per application examined for Bosnia-Herzegovina and Georgia and 1.8 for the Russian Federation) whereas Malians, Chinese and Sri Lankans tend to return alone (1.0 people per application examined for Mali and 1.1 people for the People's Republic of China and Sri Lanka).
Humanitarian repatriation
In 2006, 335 applications were examined and 397 foreign nationals benefited from humanitarian repatriation. One out of two foreigners (49.4 %) came from Mali (95 people), Romania (53), Algeria (31) and the Ukraine (17). Most of the time one person is repatriated: on average there are 1.2 people per application examined. Only Romanians are the exception to this rule with 1.8 people per application examined.
¾ Migration for self-employment and entrepreneurship
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Self-employed person 53 70 65 53 50 73 47 37 Other 1326 882 883 939 821 812 807 838 Source: ANAEM
Foreigners granted residency as self-employed workers are a minor phenomenon which has never exceeded 75 people per year over the last 8 years. Figures for other non-salaried foreigners granted residency, after falling by 30 % between 1999 and 2003, have remained at a stable level of approximately 800 people since that date.