The French parliament has passed a law that restricts Nigerian students and others from bringing their families to the country.
The law, supported by President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Renaissance party and Deputy Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, toughens immigration policies, making it harder for migrants to bring family members to France and delaying access to welfare benefits.
Some French departments, including Paris, have refused to implement the law’s provisions on benefits for non-citizens.
The move comes as part of wider EU efforts to reform the asylum system, with an agreement reached on border detention centers and faster deportation of rejected asylum seekers.
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32 of France’s 101 departments, including Paris, said they would refuse to implement the provisions of the law on benefits for non-citizens.
The French vote came just hours before an EU accord to revamp the bloc’s 27-member asylum system.
The new agreement, reached by EU governments and European Parliament members, includes the establishment of border holding centers and the expedited deportation of rejected asylum applicants.
The new approach, hailed as a watershed moment by Parliament President Roberta Metsola, allows asylum seekers to be moved from southern member states with the highest number of entries to other countries.
This comes after the United Kingdom announced a similar policy.
The crackdown will see all master students and many other post-grads banned from bringing family over.
However, the ban will not apply to Ph.D. students, whose courses usually last between 3 and 5 years and are very highly skilled.
