According to the EAC, the French Passeport Talent Visa program is still too weak to attract qualified workers and high potential foreign students to France.
“The spirit of our study is to promote labor immigration by promoting the arrival in France of qualified immigration from diverse backgrounds” indicates Emmanuelle Auriol and Hillel Rapoport, members of the Economic Analysis Council (CAE) in their note published in November 2021.
· The “talent passport” is not widely distributed
This Talent Passport visa aimed at attracting the employees of an innovative company, researchers, business creators, and promoters of innovative projects was only issued to 13,500 first-time applicants in 2019, according to the Interior Ministry.
The CAE wishes to see more immigrants since “a considerable amount of economic studies demonstrate the benefits of skilled and diversified labor immigration in terms of innovation, entrepreneurship, integration into the global economy via trade, capital flows and the circulation of productive knowledge, and ultimately productivity growth ”.
“Thus, to effectively meet the needs of the short-term labor market, we recommend continuing efforts to digitize, centralize and systematize the processing of Talent Passport visa applications from companies with clear and predictable eligibility criteria within the framework of so-called ‘shortage’ trades, ”suggests the board.
The insufficient supply of universities
The Hexagon is the fourth host country for international students, and even the first non-English speaking. But the number of mobile students is growing less quickly than elsewhere. France is struggling to attract the best. Among the reasons identified, the limited supply of courses in English offered in higher education. The creation of the Bienvenue en France label, on the other hand, is seen as progress in terms of reception and administrative procedures. Too few establishments adhere to it, however, according to the report.
The CAE believes that it will “also be necessary to intensify efforts to attract foreign students and facilitate the transition from studies to employment by streamlining and extending the granting of a residence permit at the end of studies, in particular highly qualified workers, without adding minimum wage criteria or matching the work to qualifications. “
The difficult transition from studies to employment
In France, the transition from studies to employment” is not easy “, observe the economists of the CAE who recommend” to extend the granting of the residence permit at the end of studies, in particular of highly qualified without adding minimum wage criteria or job matching qualifications ”.
Today, obtaining a residence permit at the end of studies is subject to the same risks as applying for a visa for workers. “These constraints mean that the retention rate” of foreign students in France is very low, “they write. Out of a cohort of 70,000 foreign students who obtained their first residence permit in 2015, only 21% of them were still present in France five years later.
Finally, the CAE also wants “the establishment of an immigration policy in France through the introduction of a clear and predictable system, inspired by” point systems “which have been proven elsewhere, particularly in Canada. “.
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