- The French short term residency system violates human rights of racialized migrant workers, trapping them in precarious, exploitative and abusive conditions.
- Human rights abuses against racialized migrant workers are systematic and structural.
- By exposing these workers to abuses through its migration policy, France is discriminating against them, with women disproportionately affected.
New research from Amnesty International exposes how France’s residence permit system for migrant workers is trapping racialized people in administrative limbo and leaving them vulnerable to labour exploitation, homelessness and poverty.
The short-term residence permits system, which allow workers to stay in France for up to 4 years in theory, often less in practice, creates exploitation, instability and insecurity. Amnesty International has documented a wide range of abuses which affect migrant workers, particularly coming from countries such as Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Angola, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India and Sri Lanka, with precarious residence permits.
Abuses included wage theft, extended working hours, dangerous working conditions, and multiple instances of violence perpetrated by employers, particularly on the grounds of race, including physical violence and sexual harassment.
The system’s many failings, including computer bugs and administrative delays, can have devastating consequences, causing people to lose their income and social security benefits, leaving them unable to meet their basic needs and at risk of homelessness.
This situation is as cruel as it is unacceptable. Thousands of migrant workers – primarily racialized individuals employed in key sectors of the French economy – including construction, domestic work, and cleaning – are living permanently under the threat of having their residence permits refused or not renewed.
“This situation is as cruel as it is unacceptable. Thousands of migrant workers – primarily racialized individuals employed in key sectors of the French economy – including construction, domestic work, and cleaning – are living permanently under the threat of having their residence permits refused or not renewed. Many have spent decades in France enduring this constant uncertainty, said Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director of Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns at Amnesty International.
Amnesty International’s research, At the mercy of a piece of paper: How the French state traps migrant workers in precarity, carried out in France between April 2024 and September 2025, was based on interviews with 27 racialized migrant workers of 16 different nationalities and 39 experts, including sociologists, legal experts, economists, lawyers, heads of charities, trades unions, and journalists.
Successive French governments have created increasingly restrictive and excessively complicated administrative requirements around residence permits and their renewal. To obtain a residence permit, the applicant needs a work permit, applied for by their employer and issued by the local authority. But in order to obtain a work permit, the applicant needs a residence permit.
Unsurprisingly, this vicious circle results in violations of foreign workers’ rights. Many workers have no choice but to endure difficult and dangerous working conditions – particularly in the construction industry- unpaid overtime, and exploitation by unscrupulous employers. They are unable to speak out about their situation for fear of losing their jobs and, therefore, their residence permit.
Annie, a Comorian cleaner for a multinational cleaning company, saw her monthly salary halved by her employer in the summer of 2024. When she demanded the wages due to her, her employer replied that because she hadn’t had a residence permit for two weeks, she should have been suspended. Annie noted that this had not stopped the employer from making her work, only from paying the hours she worked.
Ever-shifting goalposts mean from one day to the next, someone living and working in France entirely regularly can find themselves in an irregular situation due to any number of failings by the residence permit system including administrative errors of failures.
Nadia, a domestic worker and single mother, lost her residence rights for a period of three years. Despite submitting her complete application in full and on time, it was not processed. She was then denied the right to work and lost her social security benefits leaving her unable to pay for food, rent or bills for her and her child.
Other people interviewed, like Paul, a painter and decorator, needed to renew his residence permit and to do so he needed a work permit. However, his employer didn’t apply for one. After four months of working without pay, he contacted a lawyer, which culminated in him losing his job. Without a work permit and unable to find more work, he was then issued an expulsion order.
“Lives are being disrupted, devastated, shattered. Imagine following the letter of the law, submitting your application to renew your residence permit on time, and then having no news or access to decision makers in the local authorities. Your previous residence permit expires and, from one day to the next, you find yourself in an irregular situation. A lack of response from the administration can lead to losing everything: your job, your resources, your right to live and work in the country you have called home for years,” said Anne Savinel-Barras, President of Amnesty International France.
Far from being isolated cases committed by unscrupulous employers, Amnesty International found violations of racialized migrant workers’ rights are systemic – rooted in the precariousness of workers’ legal status, aggravated by decades of restrictive French migration policy. Through this system of deliberately precarious residence permits, the French authorities contribute to and facilitate the exploitation and discrimination against racialized foreign workers.
“Action must be taken by the state now to rectify a system that it is not only directly harmful but also enables abuse by unscrupulous employers. People often referred to as ‘essential workers’ are being treated with anything but the respect such a label merits. Only a law and system that fully comply with human rights standards can safeguard everyone’s interest,” said Erika Guevara Rosas.
“Immediate steps must be taken to tackle the racism and precarity at the heart of this cruel system. This includes simplifying administrative procedures, strengthening safeguards against failures, and, crucially, ensuring far greater security of residence status through a single and stable work permit. All reforms to the residence permit law and system must be created in partnership with civil society: trades unions, employers, companies, and associations – and above all, with the racialized migrant workers who are currently suffering most under it.”
For more information, to request the embargoed report or to arrange an interview, please contact press@amnesty.org
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