France Announces New Measures to Regularise Undocumented Foreign Workers

The update of the list of professions in shortage in France, which will allow the regularisation of undocumented workers, should be published at the end of February, according to the Minister of Labor, Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet. 

The updated list of professions in shortage is part of the immigration law introduced at the beginning of 2024, Schengen.News reports.

From 2012 until now, regularisation was based on the Valls circular of 2012, a directive introduced in France under the then-Minister of the Interior, Manuel Valls, in a bid to regulate the legal status of undocumented immigrants living in France. 

Based on the figures from the Ministry of the Interior, a total of 34,724 people obtained documents in 2023 through this method. However, the new text is expected to replace the Valls circular directive. 

The Minister of Labor, Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet, said that the problem with the Valls circular is that it obliged people who were working in an irregular situation to ask their boss for permission before making a request for regularisation.

In an interview with France Inter, France Télévisions and Le Monde, Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet said the Ministry of Labour, together with the Ministry of the Interior, have mapped “region by region” the professions in demand, emphasising that engineers and master’s students account for a third of economic immigration.

Tightened Regulations for Undocumented Workers 
The government of France unfolded plans to tighten criteria for regularisation for undocumented workers in spite of the new changes announced. 

As part of the government’s new criteria, an undocumented worker will have to prove at least three years of residence in France and two years of work in a profession in shortage to be eligible. 

In 2023, a total of 11,525 people benefited from regularisations through work. In 2025, the figures could surge as a result of the new changes introduced. 

In July 2024, authorities in France introduced tightened rules for employment for undocumented migrants who live in France in a bid to further strengthen immigration control and combat illegal work. 

Back then, the Minister of Interior of France, Gerald Darmanin, said that tightened conditions were applied for the issuance of residence permits, stressing that a fine was also introduced for companies that hire international foreign workers who are not authorised to work in France.

Source: https://schengen.news/france-announces-new-measures-to-regularise-undocumented-foreign-workers/