Macron’s Asylum Offer for Triggered U.S. Liberals a Pure ‘Political Stunt’

When France’s president offered his country to Americans upset by the administration of President Donald Trump, he neglected to mention that his country’s laws don’t exactly make it easy to immigrate there from a country outside the European Union.

French President Emmanuel Macron delivered the video remarks on Twitter last week in response to Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord.

“To all scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, responsible citizens who were disappointed by the decision of the president of the United States, I want to say that they will find in France a second homeland,” he said in English. “I call them: Come and work here, with us, to work together on concrete solutions for our climate, our environment. I can assure you, France will not give up the fight.”

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Before American climate scientists start packing their bags and perusing Parisian real estate, however, they might want to research French immigration law. Syrian refugees can get in. For Western scientists, it’s not so straightforward.

Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, said the statement was offensive.

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“That was a total political stunt to say that, and it demeans the purpose of asylum,” she said. “That was just trash-talking by Macron.”

According to frenchlaw.com, France follows the rules set up by the Geneva Convention on asylum. The country offers asylum to foreign-born people subjected to persecution on the basis of race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group, or due to political opinions.

It seems unlikely that French bureaucrats processing an asylum claim by an American scientist would count a U.S. government environmental policy as persecution. But in this snowflake era, who knows?

There are other options. Skilled workers have an easier time getting work visas compared with unskilled laborers, according to frenchlaw.com. But the law requires high-skilled workers to first have a job. At the same time, a job posting is made at a regional French unemployment office for five weeks and then submitted to the Departmental Directorate of Labor, Employment and Vocational Training, which then rules on the would-be immigrant’s application.

If approved, the application then is forwarded to a French consulate abroad. The employee must appear personally at the consular office to process the visa. Once in France, the employee must submit to a medical exam before receiving a work permit.

The process is not short or easy, according to a story that appeared this weekend in The Local, an English-language news site with editions in several countries.

“That was a total political stunt to say that, and it demeans the purpose of asylum. That was just trash-talking by Macron.”

The story quoted Allison Lounes, an American writer and consultant living in France, who said that “the hardest things for people arriving in France are knowing what to do and in what order.”

Jennifer Greco, a blogger living in Paris, said: “Before moving we had a very difficult time trying to get the list of required documents for our visas from the French consulate in the U.S.”

American Johanna Steves said the paperwork requirements are exhaustive.

“With my friends we’ve joked about how just opening a bank account requires that you provide the dental history of all of your ex-lovers,” she told The Local.

Food blogger Julie Nies told the website that she had several going-away parties at her former job in the United States because the visa process was so long. She said she also had to make an 18-hour drive to the nearest French consulate.

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“There was so much back and forth,” she said. “They must have lost my paperwork three times. I notified my job in the U.S. that I was leaving, and then found out I had to stay another month.”

Several ex-pats also expressed exasperation to The Local about the maze of sometimes conflicting requirements in order to get set up with a cellphone, bank account, apartment, and driver’s license.

Lounes told The Local that dealing with any government office in France — from setting up utilities to enrolling children in school — requires a great deal of patience.

“Americans expect things to be set up relatively quickly and easily like it would be in the U.S. or other Anglophone countries — and that’s just not the case,” she said.

And finally, The Local warns in another story,  there is “no point coming over here as a tourist and then hoping to figure it out from France — they’ll just send you back.”