France Introduces Tough Immigration Law
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Friday, April 27
France has passed a tough immigration law which shortens asylum application deadlines, doubles the time for which illegal migrants can be detained, and also introduces a one-year sentence for entering the country illegally.
The controversial law has brought widespread criticism from human right defenders and the opposition.
The regulations are seen to make their impact on the flow of Georgians to France.
In the statistics revealed by Georgia’s Foreign Ministry after eight months of the Georgia-EU visa waiver, France was in top ten with the number of Georgians entering the country visa free.
The exact figure was 6,231people.
“One of the most significant changes is that the failed asylum seekers awaiting deportation can be held for up to 90 days, double the existing period of 45 days.
“The government had initially aimed for a 135-day period,” BBC reported about the changes in the immigration law of France.
The government of Georgia has already addressed Germany to put Georgia in the Safe Country list, which means no one from Georgia would get asylum in Germany.
As the illegal flow to France from Georgia was not as high as that to Germany, there was no need of making the same request to France.
However, Georgian analysts and politicians believe that the new immigration policy of France will get in the way of the Georgians’ illegal stay there.
The government of Georgia has already complicated the process of changing surnames and announced additional steps to prevent the illegal flow of Georgians to the EU-member states as to not lose the visa free opportunity.
