French Council of State reinstates Algerian students’ right to alter their status in France

The French Council of State has formally ruled against a decision issued lately by the Prefect of Seine Saint-Denis constituency in France by allowing Algerian students settled there to change their status without being subjected to a red tape logjam.

The relieved Algerian students can now, by virtue of the law, get from the relevant authorities a standing working permit as salary workers or traders during their stay in France.

For those Algerian students who have already wrapped up their studies in France, they are now allowed to alter their status and secure a job without having to obtain a long-term visa in France in line with the previous scrapped regulations.

Furthermore, the French Council of State recalled however that the prefect can always, in a graceful and exceptional manner, accept to regularize the applicant’s situation.

The Council of State concluded that the circular of November 28, 2012 contains simple “General guidelines” which are intended to apprize the prefects in the exercise of their power of regulation and therefore it is not possible to rely on them before the judge.

Through a circular of November 28, 2012, the French Minister of the Interior gave instructions to its services related to the conditions of examination of the applications for stay in France filed by foreign nationals in an irregular situation, especially when they have no right to residence on the basis of the provisions of the code of entry and residence of foreigners and the right of asylum.

A dispute on a refusal of residence against a foreigner in an irregular situation has led the French Council of State to clarify the legal nature of this circular and to pronounce on the possibility for an applicant to rely on the appreciation of the administrative judge.

Meanwhile, a study report, recently published on the National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) website, addresses the number and profile of immigrants in France over the last 10 years.

According to the author of the report, 200,000 immigrants on average have entered France between 2004-2012. The author’s meaning of immigrants includes any foreign people (who do not hold French citizenship), regardless of their country of origin (so it includes EU citizens as well).