France eyes a more selective immigration system

Astrid Wendlandt:

France's interior minister will submit a draft law this week that proposes a more selective immigration system, rewarding skilled and educated applicants and making it easier to expel unwanted foreign workers.

"We no longer want an immigration that is inflicted (on us) but an immigration that is chosen, this is the founding principle of the new immigration policy I advocate," Nicolas Sarkozy told Le Journal du Dimanche.

In an interview published on Sunday, he said: "The system of integration the French way no longer works."

At the end of November, France said it planned to tighten immigration controls in response to its worst urban rioting in almost 40 years.

The unrest, during which thousands of cars and some schools were burned, involved disaffected youths of various ethnic origins and white youths who complained of being excluded from mainstream French society.

Sarkozy will present the details of his draft law on immigration to an inter-ministry committee on Thursday.

Among other things, it calls for the creation of grading system for students and workers that gives rankings depending on the country of origin and the field of work and study.

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