"No one can intimidate me anymore": ex-workers on the sites of the regularized Olympics

The decision which concerns about fifteen people is "a great victory", welcomed Jean-Albert Guidou, who accompanies for the CGT Seine-Saint-Denis these workers, some of whom have been present for more than a decade in the territory.

"It's a political decision" which comes against a background of media coverage of their situation and which "would have been impossible" without the context of the future Olympic Games-2024, in particular because these people do not "fit into the criteria" of classic regularization in the title of the so-called "Valls" circular of 2012, he added.

Moussa, 43, Malian

"I'm so happy that I don't have the words," says Moussa (like the others, he doesn't want to give his last name), groggy with his residence permit receipt in hand as he leaves the prefecture of Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis).

In fifteen years without papers in France, Moussa has already asked twice for a residence permit. In 2017, it was refused. Since the second request, in March 2021, he had "not even obtained an appointment".

Suddenly, after his testimonies on the four months worked on the site of the future Olympic village north of Paris, "it was super fast", he is surprised.

"Without the Olympics, I would never have been regularized, that's for sure and certain," he said. "I will be able to see my family back in Mali, my children whom I have not seen for fifteen years, including my last son whom I have not seen born, I do not even know him!"

At work, "no one can intimidate me now," he continues. "I can go where I want, work where I want. All this past (in hiding), I can leave behind me".

Waly, 32, Malian

"It's the happiest day since I've been in France!" Says Waly with a broad smile.
"When you have no papers, you work one day, two days, you can be fired at any time. Now my life will change, I will earn money and with rights, in addition", anticipates the one who has never found a job since his last job.

After this "relief" as to his right to stay for one year renewable, he foresees a first immediate consequence: "Since my arrival in France in 2018, I have been staying with someone. So I am going to look for my own accommodation now . If you don't have papers, try to find an apartment!".

Bah, 32 years old, Malian

"Everything will become simple," Bah also believes. For years, he had to provide the identity papers of a third party, often a relative to whom he paid part of his salary, to get a job. This is called working under "alias". "No more + aliases +, I'm going to work under my own name. I just have to show my papers," he says.

"I can work quietly, without fear, without risk" of being fired at the slightest control of the labor inspectorate or of suffering an accident on a construction site which would not be supported.

For him, "everything will change" and it's not just a formula: since a rejected asylum request, Bah was the subject of a deportation procedure, after being issued an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF) in 2020.

It took three years and a few months working on an Olympic site to reverse the course of things. "They wanted to deport me, now I have the papers," he repeats to himself.