French President Emmanuel Macron is a leading figure of France’s liberal-centrist political current. His political movement developed from La République En Marche! and is now established in the form of the Renaissance party. Macron’s political current was traditionally understood as neither fully right-wing nor left-wing, and his policy on immigration was also viewed through this same centrist approach.
But Macron’s immigration policy became only “pro-immigrant.” In the name of immigration, his government readily granted refugee approval to fake refugees, while tightening rules for students, skilled workers, and foreigners legally eligible to live in France. Many who go from Nepal on student visas do not even receive a visa, yet in comparison others who file fake asylum claims have easily received refugee cards. The legal route (education, IT jobs) is very strict. Nepali/Indian students find it hard to get visas, and it takes years to get jobs. But on the refugee route, benefits come quickly and a passport is possible in five years.
Why does this government not want to impose strict control against illegal immigration, human trafficking, unlawful residence, and abuse of the asylum system? Now this liberal policy of his has been linked to a vote bank. During Macron’s tenure there have been attempts to turn immigrant communities into voters. There is also talk of such a plan for the 2027 French election. Similar accusations have been made against the Spanish prime minister.
Those who have been given refugee cards remain grateful to the government and always support it, but those who complete the legal process through hard work and take French nationality use their judgment, and the chance that they will not vote for the government is higher. But the French government needs to understand this: those who go through the legal process in France and obtain nationality love France as their own country. Fake immigrants who use shortcuts to enter France for allowances and French facilities never love France. This has already become clear at the football Champions League final in Paris, in which all those who engaged in hooliganism were illegal immigrants, and many illegal migrants whom the French government itself had given cards and kept.
And, even while Nepal has an embassy in France, and even while the relevant authorities have information about the political and social situation in Nepal, people carrying Nepali passports who enter France via other European countries and later present themselves as members of the Tibetan or other persecuted communities and seek asylum have been readily given refugee cards.
Even with Nepal’s embassy present in France, necessary verification of the actual political, social and ethnic situation in Nepal can be carried out, but whether such verification is being done adequately is a question.
From past allegations of using Bhutanese refugee identity to now using Tibetan identity, ethnic persecution, gender discrimination and other grounds, they have been submitting asylum applications by presenting false details.
An even more serious question is that some people who obtained asylum on the basis of such false details or wrong identity have later even obtained French citizenship.
And Emmanuel Macron’s government has to this day no accounting of how many real refugees’ rights it stripped and how many fake refugees it gave French citizenship. Perhaps they have counted all of them as their votes. The practice of giving refugee status to anyone without checking details/facts has given France’s immigration to criminals and fake refugees. And there is the fact that many genuine refugees have had to lose their rights. This is also a violation of the human rights of those victims.
What benefit does France get from illegal immigration?
France has been accepting workers who went on seasonal visas and then fled from other European countries (Greece, Austria, Croatia, Romania) to stay in France itself. Because of this, those workers have been causing losses of hundreds of thousands of rupees to the countries they fled from, and those countries’ companies have been losing necessary manpower. But France has been taking the benefit of that. Without any process and legal procedure, France has been getting workers.
Because people who entered Europe after completing a long process from other countries do not have to sit for a direct interview at the embassy and do not have to bear paperwork and administrative hassles either, they can be put to work as laborers in France, so France has been benefiting.
People who have already entered France via other European countries can get employment opportunities when there is a shortage of workers in France. In this way, although their entry process creates losses or challenges for other countries, France appears to be benefiting by obtaining the needed workers. On the other hand, the countries that spent money and completed administrative processes to prepare those workers legally for employment can reach a situation of losing manpower.
It cannot be just that one country brings workers by following process and another country takes benefit from that same manpower.
Refugee cards for criminals making fake claims because of weak checks on asylum applications?
For many years, people of different generations of the same families from Nepal have been coming to France. If they obtained seasonal worker visas for Europe, they later apply for asylum claiming they are in danger in Nepal. But if they do not get a visa, they continue living a normal life in Nepal itself. France does not study whether there is any relation or pattern between obtaining a seasonal visa and then claiming asylum. There are many Nepali families who come to France by changing names and surnames of the same family and then obtain cards by creating a different identity. In this sense, France itself has been indirectly supporting illegal immigrants.
The French government cannot keep any channel/relation to check whether Nepal’s ward and police documents and stamps are genuine or fake. They ignore this and readily accept them. After 2025 and Nepal’s Gen-Z protest demonstrations as well, many criminals who escaped by breaking jails have entered France. They applied for asylum. When applying for asylum they do not need a police clearance certificate from their own country, so criminals easily file asylum applications and obtain cards.
What is the difference between Macron’s policy and the right-wing parties?
In France’s immigration debate there is an important difference between Macron’s Renaissance and the right-wing Rassemblement National (RN).
Renaissance’s political outlook is linked to European integration, republican values, economic competition and reform. On immigration the party has not adopted a full “close the borders” policy. In practice Renaissance has still been including illegal immigrants. That is why “Macron is pro-immigrant” and immigrants are Macron’s supporters. Indeed it is so: if illegal arrivals are accepted by a country’s government and allowed to stay, immigrants will naturally be grateful to Macron.
The Renaissance party has not adopted a full “close the borders” policy. Macron’s party supports immigrants but, while saying that supporting every type of immigration is not for France’s security, it has also been accepting illegal immigrants in droves.
In contrast, RN places more emphasis on immigration control, national priority and a strict border policy. The main objective of France’s right-wing political party National Rally (Rassemblement National – RN) is to defend national sovereignty, impose strict immigration control, and promote French identity and security. This party’s policy is to completely stop illegal immigration, make large cuts in legal immigration, tighten border security, and give first priority (National Preference) to French citizens in state services, welfare schemes and employment. In addition, its main goals are strict legal punishment to control rising crime inside the country, protection of French culture and secularism, and reducing European Union (EU) interference so that France keeps its own control over its decision-making process.
Activity of Nepali human traffickers and brokers
After Emmanuel Macron’s government came, they have been very active against Nepali human trafficking and illegal networks. The proportion of Nepalis going to America via the donkey route and claiming asylum has now decreased after the Trump government. All those Nepalis who would go that way go to Austria, Croatia and Greece on seasonal visas and then enter France and claim asylum. To go on a seasonal visa neither education nor any work experience is needed. In the name of taking people from countries like Nepal to Europe through employment, study or other legal routes, trafficking is done.
Activities of people making false asylum claims and of broker gangs who help make such claims not only defame Nepal itself; they have also made the visa process even harder for Nepalis who want to go to France through legal routes. For this very reason it is said that visa applications of students who genuinely want to study are also being rejected in large numbers.
The current French government is even accused of not being sufficiently strict toward human trafficking and organized illegal immigration networks and of indirectly creating an environment that makes such activities easy. Looking at the proportion who enter France illegally every month and make fake asylum claims, it is understood that either the French government has indirectly accepted it, or the functioning and monitoring mechanism of the French asylum system itself is weak or broken. Due to weakness of the law or slackness in implementation, human traffickers and illegal networks are taking advantage.
The main question being raised about the government is this—if such networks are active, why are more effective steps not taken to stop them, identify them and take legal action? The government should accept the seriousness of this subject and carry out strict investigation and control, but it has not shown sufficient political sensitivity.
But, in this same context, a Nepali who wants to go to France, a Nepali student who has completed a bachelor’s degree in IT in Nepal, says:
“When applying to go to France it takes a long time, and a lot of money is also spent. After reaching France one may also have to wait a long time to work. After that, obtaining permanent residence (PR) also requires passing through a very difficult process. That is why I too am thinking of going to Europe through brokers and then entering France and applying for asylum.
In France there are groups of brokers I know, who have talked about making fake documents for me and teaching me how to present false details in the asylum application. Some people I know have also used this same method. After giving them money they prepare the asylum application and the chance of approval is high.”
Where is raising immigration taking France’s future?
When complaints with evidence are filed on a serious and sensitive subject like immigration and state agencies still do not take action and inquire, it is understood that the government is not accountable.
Such statements raise a serious question—when students and workers who want to go to France through the legal route have to face a long process and strict checks, but brokers present false asylum claims as an easy route, how much does this affect real applicants?
Therefore, while protecting the rights of real victims and people who want to stay legally in France’s immigration and asylum system, effective investigation and legal action against broker networks that produce fake documents and induce false claims appears necessary.
In the tragic shooting incident at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, in December 2025 against people celebrating the Hanukkah festival, the accused involved were reported to be a father and son of immigrant background. After this incident, a wide debate has started in Australia on checking immigrants’ backgrounds, security surveillance, and making immigration-related rules even stricter.
That illegal residence affects public security in the future should be a matter above party policy. This is not only a question of immigration; it is a subject linked to the rule of law, national security, the labor market and the rights of real refugees. If France keeps accepting every illegal immigrant in this way, it is certain that very large incidents will occur in France in the future. And French citizens of France themselves will be caught in that.
The current government has given residence permits (cards) to fake refugees and kept them, because of which concern is being expressed that unpleasant incidents or security challenges may arise in the future. In such a situation, if there is a security or legal error, will the moral and political responsibility be taken by President Macron’s government, or directly by the immigration officer (administrative official) who issued the card?
Hashtags
#Macron #France #Immigration #Asylum #FakeRefugees #IllegalImmigration #RefugeeCard#NepalToFrance #SeasonalVisa #StudentVisa #HumanTrafficking #Brokers #VoteBank #FrenchCitizenship #Renaissance #RN #NationalRally #EUMigration#LegalRouteFirst #StopFakeAsylum #ProtectRealRefugees #France2027 #BorderControl #NationalPreference #Macron #France #Immigration #Asylum #FakeRefugees #Nepal #SeasonalVisa #HumanTrafficking #RefugeeCard #VoteBank #RN #France2027
