The new circular replaces the previous one, issued by Manuel Valls in 2012, which eased the process of regularisation for family or employment reasons. The new circular sets a seven-year time limit for regularisations in France and insists on the exceptional circumstances in which they must be carried out, the aim being to reduce the annual number of regularisations from approximately 30,000 to 20,000. The prefects are required to apply these new directives immediately.

In addition to the duration of residence in France and the need to reduce the number of cases regularised per third party, the directive stresses the importance of keeping migratory flows under control, focusing on the need for integration and commitment to republican values, particularly a good knowledge of the French language.

Despite the criteria for exceptional admission for residence (AES) not being fundamentally changed, French prefects are being encouraged to apply these criteria with greater strictness. This may make regularisation more difficult on family grounds, especially for families with school-going children. The main objective is to control the flow of migrants, which might lead to a significant decrease in family regularisation.

Since it was introduced in 2012, the main changes to the Valls circular have been its implementation and its results. It initially led to the regularisation of undocumented migrants on a more fluid basis, with an estimated 30,000 regularisations per year. Nevertheless, its efficacy differed from prefecture to prefecture, causing disparities in how it was applied. The Retailleau circular of 2025 introduced stricter regularisation criteria, which led to a much more restrictive approach than Valls' approach.