By signing a Republican Integration Contract (CIR), foreign learners participate in 400 hours of language training in order to improve their level of French.
The Senate will consider the very sensitive immigration bill from Monday, November 6. A text which provides, among other things, to make obtaining a multi-year residence permit conditional on mastery of a minimum level of French. Until now, when the level of French is insufficient, the only obligation for the foreigners concerned is participation in language training.
Around twenty learners, in Bobigny in Seine-Saint-Denis, have for example signed a “CIR”, a republican integration contract. Their level of French was below level A1, a European benchmark, that is to say at the elementary level. They are therefore required to follow this training under the supervision of Ofii (the French Office for Immigration and Integration). The training includes 400 hours, spread out from February to July, to learn to speak, write and communicate in French.
A learner, originally from Mali, assures us: “I am here to learn writing, improve speaking and also integrate into society.” As for the condition of a minimum level of French to obtain a residence permit, he finds that “normal”. “If you go to a country, you speak the language,” he says.
110,000 republican integration contracts in 2022
Clarisse Castor organizes this training at the request of the French Office for Immigration and Integration (Ofii”), at GRETA Seine-Saint-Denis, a training network for adults. “On the new law, I don’t have much information, she says. In any case today, we already have a French test at the end of the training, which has an impact on obtaining a residence permit.” GRETA Seine-Saint-Denis trains just over 6,000 signatories of the Republican Integration Contract (CIR) each year. Knowing that at the national level, according to Ofii, 110,000 CIRs were signed in 2022, of which 46% of signatories go for language training. “And 55% for Seine-Saint-Denis”adds Clarisse Castor.
“In any case, we are fully aware that mastery of the language is a major element in having good integration and access to employment”concludes Véronique Lagarrigue, deputy director of Ofii Seine-Saint-Denis.