French law: Controlling immigration while improving integration

On January 26, 2024, the French bill “controlling immigration while improving integration” was enacted by the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron.  

This law aims to strengthen the integration of foreign citizens through three main axes: learning and mastering French, respecting the principles of the Republic, and integration through work. 

What’s new ?

Among the changes there are : 

• The modification of the designation of the residence permit “talent passport” to “talent residence permit” in order to limit the confusion caused by the use of the word “passport”;  
• The merger of residence permits issued for the reasons of new business, innovative business projects, and business investor into a single residence permit called “innovative business project”.   
• The merger of residence permits issued to young qualified graduates, employees of an innovative new company and employees on assignment into a single residence permit called “talent-qualified employee”;   
• The creation of a new residence permit for medical professionals called “medical and pharmacy professional talent”; 
• Enhancement of French language learning. Proficiency levels in French are specified for different types of residence permits. Companies are encouraged to contribute to the linguistic training of their foreign employees; 
• A new regularization pathway is introduced for workers in sectors facing labor shortages; 
• Improvements for issuing residence permits will be based on a comprehensive experimentation of applications. Three regional platforms will be launched for pre-instruction of residence permits and renewal will be simplified through the Digital Administration for Foreign nationals in France by 2025. 

For more information, please consult the document presenting the French law: Controlling immigration while improving integration on the Ministry of the Interior’s website (in French only).