“I’m not an illegal refugee, I just want to study quietly. » Xuesheng*, 24, arrived from China in September 2022 in France to join a business and management school in Grenoble, in Isère. After a year of master’s degree, she wanted to continue her course on a work-study basis.
“I therefore had to apply for renewal of my residence permit,” continues the student. All documents must be sent two months before the end of the visa. But it was impossible to gather everything needed in time. And I didn’t want to submit an incomplete application because it could be rejected. So, I sent the papers late and I got a certificate of extension of the processing of the residence permit application. And that’s where all the trouble started…”
The Isère prefecture actually specifies that “the completeness of the files upon submission is the essential point of the procedures in order to be able to immediately begin the investigation work” because “70% of the files presented are still incomplete”.
“Prohibited from leaving France, at the risk of not being able to return”
With this certificate valid for three months, Xuesheng was able to begin his missions in the company that employs him, in Paris, while following his training in Grenoble. “Then, the day my visa expired, in the second, I lost everything,” she says. Her work-study contract was suspended. His social assistance too. “I was forbidden from showing up at my job and at my school,” she continues. But also a ban on leaving France, at the risk of not being able to return. »
“It’s just a piece of paper for the prefecture, whereas for us, international students, it’s our life,” she adds. This Chinese student insists on “the constant stress” that the French administration puts her through and the time it takes her. “It has a huge impact on my mental health,” she says. I have to manage my studies, my professional responsibilities and on top of that, this whole process, in a language that is not my mother tongue. I have the impression that no one realizes the investment that studying in France requires for foreigners. » For her, this system of instructions for evolved titles, put in place since 2021, is not adapted to the “human beings” behind visa applications.
Dozens of students affected
And Xuesheng is not alone in this. “Since the generalization of electronic files, there have been dozens and dozens of students in the same situation every year,” confirms lawyer Delphine Combes. And we only talk about those who decide to call on lawyers, not knowing what to do. »
Faced with this procedure, the only means of action is to make interim reliefs. “The legal texts have not evolved at the same time as the procedures so there are necessarily administrative dysfunctions,” explains Me Delphine Combes. It doesn’t work every time but it’s the only way to achieve regularization. » She recalls that, on the administration side, it is simply “an update” of a file. “There is no issue over the right to stay on French soil,” she says. The problem is this waiting situation, where they have nothing left. »
Questioned on these questions, State services ensure that “the instruction criteria remain the same as provided for by legislation” and that a “dedicated team is specifically dedicated to processing international student files”. For the Isère prefecture, dematerialization is “a way of limiting travel and the multiplication of appointments” but also of “promoting instruction work and controlling deadlines”.
A system that supports the integration of international students
But for businesses too this procedure is “hell”. “According to human resources, paperwork problems happen regularly,” explains Maxime, manager and tutor in a large multinational. The problem is that it has repercussions on the box. » For several years, with diversity being an integral part of the company’s DNA, 10% of the apprentices recruited each year are foreigners. “Everything is stopped suddenly, so we have to take care of the students’ missions in the meantime, without knowing how long it might last. »And companies do not have the levers to speed up procedures. Maxime’s tried. In vain.
Thus, according to him, “everyone loses”. “The work-study students are obviously not sanctioned,” he continues. But it sure makes us reconsider working with this or that school or this or that prefecture knowing what could happen. » He concludes: “This way of welcoming foreign students does not at all give a good image of France… We must sincerely reconsider the operation so as not to penalize the integration of talents in our country but also of our students there. ‘stranger. »
* The first name has been changed.