France axes immigration law’s international student restrictions

France’s Constitutional Council has rejected aspects of a controversial immigration law that passed in December, including several measures relating to international students.

The council deemed unconstitutional plans to charge international students a “return deposit” to cover potential “removal costs”. Measures that would compel overseas students to demonstrate “the real and serious nature of their studies” every year, as well as compulsory higher university registration fees for students from outside the European Union, must also be scrapped, the council ruled.

Other contested aspects of the law to be tossed out include the criminalisation of residing in France without permission and limits on family reunification. The council also “partially censored” plans to impose quotas on immigration.

In a speech delivered in Paris, the higher education minister, Sylvie Retailleau, welcomed the council’s ruling on the proposed return deposit. “This measure is, I am convinced, incompatible with the values ​​of our higher education and its international influence,” she said. “I want to say it again here: international students are an opportunity for France.”

The umbrella body France Universités said in a statement that it was “satisfied” with the council’s decision and called for “trust [to] now be rebuilt”, noting that some damage had already been done.

“The measures adopted by parliament have, in fact, already weakened the image of France and its influence,” the statement read. Calling the scrapped measures “discriminatory”, France Universités said they “seriously endangered” the attractiveness of French research and higher education.

Describing international students as “major players” in France’s “economic, cultural and scientific development”, the organisation said: “The excellence of French research cannot be achieved without them.”

“University presidents reaffirm their ambition to make France the European Union’s leading host country for international students,” the statement concluded.

France’s Federation of General Student Associations (Fage), however, said on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that the modified law was “not a victory”, writing: “We are concerned about the worsening precariousness and systemic racism faced by foreign students.

“Removing a few measures means avoiding disaster, not improving the situation.”

France Universités, the Conference of Deans of French Schools of Engineering (CDEFI) and several students’ unions released a joint statement when the law was first passed, condemning the return deposit as a means of “discrimination by money” and calling on the president, Emmanuel Macron, to challenge it.

The joint statement said the bill was “contrary to [French] values” and would compromise the “excellence” of French research, noting that international students make up 40 per cent of the country’s PhD candidates.

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com