Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

STUDYING IN FRANCE

France passes law to make foreign students pay ‘deposit’ to study

The French parliament has passed a new immigration law that will bring about big changes - including for those wishing to study in France. Here's how the changes will affect current and future students in France.

Published: 20 December 2023 14:04 CET
France passes law to make foreign students pay 'deposit' to study
A student walks by the entrance of the Sciences-Po Grenoble's campus, in Saint-Martin-d'Heres, near Grenoble, south eastern France (AFP / JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK)

Late on Tuesday night, France’s parliament passed the long-contested immigration bill, with the adopted version being notably further to the right than the original that was first sent to the Assemblée Nationale last week.

You can find a full breakdown of the text HERE.

The original bill contained no specific changes for foreign students, but the revised bill contains a clause that tightens up the rules on getting a student visa.

As a result, non-EU citizens looking to study in France will now be required to submit a deposit – amount to be specified later by France’s Conseil d’État – when applying for the first time for a student visa. 

The bill states that “the first issue of a temporary residency permit bearing the mention ‘student’ is conditional upon the foreign national submitting a deposit”

The foreign student would be able to get the deposit back “if he/she leaves France on the expiration of the ‘student’ residency permit, if he/she renews the permit, or if he/she obtains a new French residency permit with a different title/ status.” 

However, the new law states that “the deposit [will be] definitively withheld if the foreign national has evaded enforcement of a removal order.”

The law will also require that those with multi-year student residency permits prove annually that they are enrolled in a ‘real and serious’ educational programme. 

READ MORE: Revealed: The best cities in France to be a student

Additionally, the legislation seeks to produce more information about the student residency permits granted, by introducing the requirement of a yearly report detailing how many applications were rejected, with information on the applicants’ country of origins and personal qualifications, as well as the time taken to process paperwork and the number of students who drop out of their courses.

In terms of when these changes will come into effect, the law will first need to be looked over and approved by France’s constitutional council and then several requirements will need to be given further detail by the Conseil d’État, which ought to be specified in the days and weeks to come.

Ultimately, it will be up to the French government to decide when it will be put into effect, so there was not a clear timeline for enforcement as of December 2023.

Why the changes?

These weren’t part of the original immigration bill – which was more focused on better integration of immigrants and filling skills gaps in certain sectors – but were added at a later stage by senators. 

Senator Roger Karoutchi, from the right-wing Les Républicains party, in an interview with Les Echos, said that student residency permits “have clearly become a means of immigration”.

“A number of university presidents have told us that many students registered under this scheme do not turn up for their exams or even go to lectures. This residence permit does not allow illegal immigration, but rather a diversion from its original purpose.”

However, the proposal has been slammed by higher education leaders.

The leaders of renowned French business schools ESSEC, ESCP, and HEC together spoke out against the changes, saying that the “bill will threaten France’s international competitiveness.”

They added that the new deposit requirement “goes against the principles of republican equality and (…) will reduce the proportion of international students in our schools and universities.”

The leaders also added that the new law would “destroy the government objective of doubling the number of international students by 2027,” referencing a goal of French President Emmanuel Macron’s administration to increase the country’s international competitiveness, particularly in the field of research.

What is not changing?

Students will continue to have access to housing aid (CAF). They were listed as an exception to the new rules laid out by parliament for foreigners benefiting from government benefits. 

The law also does not change the right of students to work up to 964 hours per year (60 percent of the annual working year).

Similarly students will still be able to travel freely in the Schengen zone during their studies.

The changes also will not affect pre-existing requirements for most foreigners to initially apply for their visa using the Campus France (Etudes en France) system. 

As for those who obtained a degree in France, the law does not change the ability to apply for the ‘job-seekers’ permit afterwards, nor does it change the shortened residency requirement students benefit from when applying for citizenship.

READ MORE: Ask the expert: How students can remain in France after finishing their degree

The deposit scheme does not affect people already studying in France – it is only required for a first-time student visa. 

What about the details?

Key details of the scheme – such as the amount required for the deposit, how it will be paid and exactly what proof is required of ‘serious study’ are still to be confirmed.

Speaking on Wednesday, government spokesman Olivier Véran said that each article of the bill would now need to be “studied and clarified”.

The bill also needs to be approved by the Conseil Constitutionnel, which can require sections to be altered or removed.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

POLITICS

Explained: What’s behind the violence on French island of New Caledonia?

Violent unrest has disrupted daily life on the French Pacific island of New Caledonia - leaving several dead and prompting president Emmanuel Macron to declare a state of emergency. Here's a look at what’s happening, why, and why it matters so much to France.

Published: 15 May 2024 14:45 CEST
Explained: What’s behind the violence on French island of New Caledonia?

Two people have been killed and hundreds more injured, shops were looted and public buildings torched during a second night of rioting in New Caledonia – Nouvelle-Calédonie, in French – as anger over planned constitutional reforms boiled over.

On Wednesday, president Emmanuel Macron declared a state of emergency as the violence continued, with at least one police officer seriously injured.

What began as pro-independence demonstrations have spiralled into three days of the worst violence seen on the French Pacific archipelago since the 1980s. 

Police have arrested more than 130 people since the riots broke out Monday night, with dozens placed in detention to face court hearings, the commission said.

A curfew has been put in place, and armed security forces are patrolling the streets of the capital Noumea.

So, New Caledonia is a French colony?

New Caledonia is, officially, a collectivité d’Outre mer (overseas collective). It’s not one of the five départements d’Outre mer – French Guiana in South America, Martinique and Gaudeloupe in the Caribbean and Réunion and Mayotte in the Indian Ocean – which are officially part of France.

As a collectivité, New Caledonia has special status that was negotiated in 1988 that gives it increasing autonomy over time and more say over its own affairs that the French overseas départements.

Home to about 269,000 people, the archipelago was a penal colony in the 19th century. Today its economy is based mainly on agriculture and vast nickel resources.

What has prompted the riots?

This is about voting rights.

Pro-independence groups believe that constitutional reforms that would give the vote to anyone who has lived on the island for 10 years would dilute the vote held by the indigenous Kanak people – who make up about 41 percent of the population, and the majority of whom favour independence.

New Caledonia’s voter lists have not been updated since 1998 when the Noumea Accord was signed, depriving island residents who arrived from mainland France or elsewhere since of a vote in provincial polls, enlarging the size of the voting population.

Proponents of the reform say that it just updates voting rolls to include long-time residents, opponents believe that it’s an attempt to gerrymander any future votes on independence for the islands.

The Noumea Accord – what’s that?

It was an agreement, signed in 1998, in which France said it would grant increased political power to New Caledonia and its original population, the Kanaks, over a 20-year transition period. 

It was signed on May 5th 1998 by Lionel Jospin, and approved in a referendum in New Caledonia on November 8th, with 72 percent voting in favour.

The landmark deal has led to three referendums. In 2018, 57 percent voted to remain closely linked to France; in October 2020, the vote decreased to 53 percent. In a third referendum in 2021, the people voted against full sovereignty with another narrow margin.

And that’s what the reforms are about?

Yes. The reforms, which have been voted through by MPs in France, but must still be approved by a joint sitting of both houses of the French parliament, would grant the right to vote to anyone who has lived on the island for 10 years or more. 

President Emmanuel Macron has said that lawmakers will vote to definitively adopt the constitutional change by the end of June, unless New Caledonia’s political parties agree on a new text that, “takes into account the progress made and everyone’s aspirations”.

Autonomy has its limits.

How serious is the unrest?

French President Emmanuel Macron urged calm in a letter to the territory’s representatives, calling on them to “unambiguously condemn” the “disgraceful and unacceptable” violence.

New Caledonia pro-independence leader, Daniel Goa, asked people to “go home”, and condemned the looting.

But “the unrest of the last 24 hours reveals the determination of our young people to no longer let France take control of them,” he added.

This isn’t the first time there’s been unrest on the island, is it?

There has been a long history of ethnic tensions on New Caledonia, starting in 1878 when a Kanak insurgency over the rights of Kanaks in the mining industry left 200 Europeans and 600 rebels dead. Some 1,500 Kanaks were sent into exile.

Clashes between Kanaks and Caldoches in the 1980s culminated in a bloody attack and hostage-taking by Kanak separatists in 1988, when six police officers and 19 militants were killed on the island of Ouvea.

SHOW COMMENTS