Student and economic immigration is on the rise

The Covid parenthesis is over. While the government’s immigration bill is due to be presented to the Council of Ministers on February 1, the figures for new arrivals will return, in 2022, to the growth rate known just before the health crisis, according to estimates published on January 26 by the Ministry of the Interior. The issuance of first residence permits thus increases by 17.2% in 2022 to reach 320,330, to which must be added 10,386 Britons who now need papers to reside in France. But, contrary to what one might think, this increase is linked to “the strong growth of student and economic immigration”, notes Éric Jalon, the head of the Directorate General for Foreigners in France. That is two reasons for so-called chosen immigration.

Notable fact: student immigration (108,340 new permits, +22.8%) now greatly exceeds family immigration (90,385 permits, +4.6%), which has long been the main reason for new arrivals, fact of the long-standing presence of immigrants in our country. Economic immigration (52,570, +44.9%), driven by the arrival of employees and seasonal workers, is also up sharply. Taking a separate census of the 65,833 Ukrainians (not counting minors) received in France, humanitarian immigration (40,490, – 0.3%), which includes asylum but also residence permits for health reasons, is stable despite a sharp upturn in asylum applications (131,046 applications, +30%).

Finally, the issue of permits for “miscellaneous” reasons (28,545 permits, +30.8%), which mainly concerns visitors or foreigners entering as minors, is increasing sharply. The trend is also on the rise for “exceptional admissions to stay”, which in 2022 allowed 34,029 foreigners in an irregular situation to be regularized (+ 7.8%). While regularization for family reasons is still the majority, it is that for economic reasons that is progressing the most. On the other hand, the growth is less strong concerning evictions, the main objective of the law of 2018 as of the future law of 2023.

In 2022, 19,425 foreigners in an irregular situation left the territory (+ 15.5%), including nearly 4,000 without having been the subject of a deportation measure; 15,396 were removed as part of a procedure (+ 14.9%) but, if we remove those who left without constraint and those who left with financial assistance, only 11,410 forced removals remain (+ 13.1%).

Source