France's new socialist government scraps restrictions on foreign graduates' right to work
France’s Socialist government was on Thursday set to scrap an order from former Interior Minister Claude Guéant limiting foreign graduates’ right to work in France a year to the day after it came into force.
The so-called “Guéant circular” caused a storm of opposition from students’ unions, immigrants’ rights groups and employers when it was issued and François Hollande promised to revoke it during his campaign to become president.
The circular instructed local officials to hand out fewer working papers to non-European Union students who graduated from French universities and came after Guéant, in reaction to a strong showing by the far-right Front National in cantonal elections, pledged to cut legal immigration from 200,000 to 180,000 people a year.
Interior Minister Manuel Valls told French television Thursday that it would be sent out that day, adding that the employment of foreign graduates trained in France was “an opportunity for them and an opportunity for France”. The new circular is understood to tell the relevant officials not to deport students whose temporary right to stay has run out and to speed up the handling of requests for working papers.
http://www.english.rfi.fr/economy/20120531-french-government-scraps-restrictions-foreign-graduates-right-work
Nice to see Hollande living up to another campaign promise. And nice to see the demise of another Sarkozy policy that was inspired by his electoral desire to cozy up to the far-right voting bloc.
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