refugees in France, foreign students now threatened with expulsion

Aladdin is Algerian and fled Ukraine because of the war where he was preparing a thesis in photovoltaics. “In Algeria, my field almost does not exist. Basically, I had my master’s degree and I wanted to do my doctorate in photovoltaics, but it does not exist in my country”, he insists. If Aladdin is enrolled at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne for the current year, his future in France is up in the air. As a refugee student, he does not benefit from a six-month residence permit as Ukrainians can benefit from, but only one month.

In order to be able to stay, the prefecture requires that these students provide proof of registration for next year, and this before the end of June. This requirement is aimed at many foreign students all over France, as explained by Jahan Lutz, member of the student collective Le Poing levé in Bordeaux and elected to the board of directors of Bordeaux Montaigne University. “Here there are 118 refugee students from Ukraine, who do not have Ukrainian nationality and who have an enrollment for the year 2021-2022, he explains. These students apply for a residence permit at the prefecture. The problem is that it does not issue residence permits if students do not have registrations for 2022-2023.

And unfortunately, universities are reluctant to enroll foreigners without a residence permit. Students are stuck in a vicious cycle. For Aladdin, the refusals are linked, other answers are expected, while his future is more and more uncertain, he who has bet everything on his studies in Ukraine. “I invested everything to leave. My father sold his car so that I could go to Ukraine. What I have in Algeria? Nothing.”

Some students are then threatened with expulsion subject to an OQTF, an obligation to leave French territory, and ask to return to their country of nationality. An unacceptable situation for Jahan Lutz and the collective.

There is a Damocles sword on these students. Two students have already had an OQTF. They are threatened with expulsion from French territory even though they fled the same bombs, the same war as the students of Ukrainian nationality.

Jahan Lutz, member of the student collective Le Poing Levé and elected to the board of directors of Bordeaux Montaigne University

at franceinfo

Nissia is one of these students. Unlike Aladdin, and despite enrolling at Bordeaux Montaigne University, this young Algerian who fled Odessa was notified of an obligation to leave the territory at the end of her one-month temporary protection. “I was told ‘even if you have an acceptance from the university you are Algerian, you must go back to your country, ask for a D visa’ (long stay Editor’s note) and so-called ‘come back’.”

She filed an appeal before the administrative court and is now awaiting a court decision which will validate or not her obligation to leave French territory.