The French parliament adopted on July 15, 2015, a reform of asylum to reduce the processing time of a record of applicants and improve reception conditions as the current system is out of breath.
The purpose of this law is to reduce from two years to nine months in 2017 the deadline for answers, by simplifying procedures and strengthening the resources of the French Office for Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA) granting refugee status and those of the National Court of Asylum (CNDA), which rules on appeals.
This period may be shortened to three months in accelerated procedures.
Another objective of the law is to improve the reception conditions because, despite the opening of new places in reception centers, increased from 5,200 seats in 2001 to nearly 25,000 in 2014, infrastructure remains inadequate.
The proliferation of informal settlements of migrants, including in Paris and Calais (north) close to the British coast, led the interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, to announce mid-June, 4,000 additional accommodation places for current asylum seekers by 2016, which will add to the 4,200 already promised for the end of 2015.
He also committed to new recruitments at the OFPRA.
To address the geographical imbalance of files (50% are deposited in the Paris area where accommodation is saturated), the bill is to provide the possibility of dividing the applicants on the whole territory and eliminate benefits to foreigners who refuse to go to a certain place.
Furthermore, access to the labor and vocational training market will be allowed to the claimant if the OFPRA has not ruled on his application in time.
The right and the extreme right voted against the text arguing it will “encourage tens of thousands more applicants.” The Far Left and ecologists have found he reform to being not ambitious enough.
In a context of multiple international crises, asylum applications have almost doubled since 2007, reaching 66,000 in 2013 and nearly 65,000 in 2014. France is the fourth country of reception of asylum seekers in Europe behind Germany, Sweden and Italy.
