Immigration Laws: June, 2000 - Number #12

The French Assembly in May 2000 approved a Green party motion to allow non-European foreign residents to vote in local elections in 2001. EU nationals in France may vote in local elections, but the proposal to allow non-EU nationals similar voting rights is not likely to become law because the Senate is not expected to approve it.

A May 2000 poll found that 60 percent of French people believe there are too many immigrants and 64 percent say the police should have greater powers to deal with foreigners. The National Advisory Commission for Human Rights (CNCDH) released a poll in March 2000 that found 63 percent of respondents agreeing that there were "too many" foreigners in France; 72 percent believe "many immigrants come to France just to benefit from social welfare," and 52 percent see immigration as the main cause of social unrest in France; 58 percent would not approve of regulations to encourage the employment of foreigners.

Nevertheless, there are regular demonstrations by migrants and their supporters in Paris and other cities, during which migrants demand papers and equal rights.

France's immigrants often live in suburbs in high-rise buildings built in the 1960s and 1970s that are largely rejected by the French. When the police attempt to enforce laws in these suburbs, they are often viewed as an occupying force, prompting clashes, especially with immigrant youth. In April, a police officer killed a 24-year old Algerian youth in Lille-Sud, setting off three days of rioting. The officer was investigated for homicide.

Edwin Murati is an Albanian soccer star who was smuggled into France with the help of a brother studying there. The Paris St. Germain soccer team put him on the team, though it knew he was not lawfully in France, and helped him to apply for asylum. He was granted refugee status.

France is attracting more Chinese visa applications— 54,000 in 1999, up from 32,000 in 1998. About 5,000 Chinese applied for asylum in France in 1999, up from 2000 in 1998. Two percent were granted asylum. Chinese were 17 percent of the 30,000 asylum applicants in France in 1999. There are 150,000 to 200,000 Chinese in France, including 7,000 unauthorized Chinese in the Paris region.

France made the 35-hour work week mandatory for firms with more than 20 employees on February 1, 2000, prompting strikes by workers who wanted more pay or others, such as truck drivers, who were protesting their exemption from the new law. The reduction in the work week from 39 hours was expected to create a million new jobs and reduce unemployment, which was 10.6 percent in December, 1999.

"Number of Chinese immigrants to France on the rise," Agence France Presse, February 7, 2000.