Video Ordinary taxpayer for the tax authorities, clandestine for the prefecture… The complicated and “unfair” situation of an undocumented carer

“I don’t feel guilty. On the contrary, I am very proud of myself, of everything I bring to the elderly, vulnerable and disabled people. I don’t want to take someone’s place; I want my place to me.” This caregiver that we will call Ornella comes from Cameroon. Without a residence permit, it is in theory illegal to hire him, but she signed a permanent contract three years ago under her real name. Every day, she takes care of around ten dependent people, including a 97-year-old lady. In this personal services sector, where 25,000 positions are to be filled, there are very many undocumented women.

To carry out these grueling tasks from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., six days a week, Ornella earns 1,700 euros net per month. From the Paris suburbs where she lives with her partner, she calls their 11-year-old daughter every evening. She didn’t want to take the risk of taking her across the Mediterranean when she was still a baby, so Shaina stayed in Cameroon with her grandparents. “A very big sacrifice”, sighs his mother who, without French papers, cannot travel back and forth to visit him. “I haven’t seen her since 2014. In January, it will be ten years.”

An administrative headache

If her spouse was able to obtain a residence permit, for Ornella, putting together a file is an administrative headache. She must bring together an employment contract, pay slips, a hiring form completed by her employer, and prove her presence in France for at least three years. She pays contributions and even taxes, but is not entitled to CMU or the Vitale card.

“The State does not see all the contribution that I make to social life, to France… and I find that it is a little unfair.”

Ornella, undocumented carer

to “Special Envoy”

Considered by the tax administration as an ordinary taxpayer, Ornella remains clandestine in the eyes of the prefecture, who considers that her place is in Cameroon with her child, and has issued her with an OQTF (obligation to leave French territory). For the moment, after three refusals, her regularization file is blocked, and she lives in fear of a police check.

An essential workforce

France today has between 400,000 and 1 million undocumented workers like Ornella. They are employed in personal services, in the back kitchen of restaurants, in the agricultural sector, on construction sites, among artisans… Many employers today could not do without this workforce.

Extract from “Undocumented but not without work”, a report to be seen in “Envoyéspecial” on December 7, 2023.

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