France Wants to Ban Undocumented Migrants From Getting Married

The French Senate has approved a draft that aims at barring undocumented migrants from getting married in France, as an effort to reduce irregular migration in the country.

The bill has to be passed by the National Assembly to further be signed into law, but first, there could be many changes added to the text, Schengen.News reports.

Immigration is one of the main issues that France has been facing and this measure aims to address this issue, especially by targeting fake marriages that happen every year.

According to a report published by the French public national broadcaster TF1, it is estimated that around 400 cases of these fraudulent marriages occurred between 2020 and 2022, down from 550 cases reported in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.

New Bill Unlikely to Be Passed as It Is “Unconstitutional”
With 227 votes in favour and 110 against, this bill has received quite some support from the French Senate. However, it is unlikely that it will be voted to become a law, considering that it is unconstitutional to ban a foreign national from getting married.

As Info Migrants explains, the wording of that decision says that the irregular status “cannot in itself be an obstacle to the marriage of the person concerned.”

The draft law also goes against the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), according to which all men and women have the right to marry, with the national laws allowing them to do so.

Over 247,000 Fake Marriages Happen Every Year in France 
As TF1 reports, about 247,000 marriages take place every year in France, resulting in nearly one in about 620 marriages being fake. In addition, it is considered that French nationals entering a fake marriage often receive up to €10,000. 

The local media in France has recently reported on migrthe case of the mayor of Beziers, who refused to marry a French woman and an undocumented Algerian man in 2023 due to the groom’s immigration status. Another case occurred in the northern part of the country. Which resulted in a man being deported. 

Since France is a secular country, marriages have to take place in city halls. But, as mentioned in an article shared by Info Migrants, it is unlawful for a mayor, as was the case of the mayor of Beziers, to step in on these matters.

Source: https://schengen.news/france-wants-to-ban-undocumented-migrants-from-getting-married/