The new list of professions in demand published in the Official Journal

Submitted by the government to social partners on February 21, this update, scheduled annually under the January 2024 immigration law, was due to be published at the end of February before being postponed several times. The latest version dates from 2021.

Established region by region, this list enumerates the approximately 80 professions in need of workers, thanks to which foreign workers can apply for a residence permit by providing proof of twelve months of pay slips over the last 24 months and three years of residence in France.

This provision, intended to embody the social aspect of the law introduced by former Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, is applicable until the end of 2026.

It should allow employers who are having difficulty recruiting to keep their employees and avoid the risk of conviction – employing an irregular person is punishable by a fine of 30.000 euros and five years in prison.

Among the "occupations and geographical areas characterized by recruitment difficulties" prominently featured are "salaried farmers", "home helps and domestic workers", "kitchen assistants", "cooks", "domestic and cleaning staff", "salaried market gardeners/horticulturists", as well as employees in the hotel and construction sectors.

"Amazing things"

"Finally! We've been waiting for this for months, even years. I'm thinking of all those employers and employees using aliases who have been waiting for this list to submit their regularization applications. It's a relief for them," Franck Trouet, general delegate of the Hotel and Restaurant Association (GHR), told AFP.

"We recognize that the hotel and restaurant industry, France's leading recruiter, is a sector under pressure. This is progress, even if there are some surprising things: in Paris, only the profession of cook appears on the list, but not that of assistant cook, dishwasher, or waiter," Mr. Trouet is surprised.

According to France Travail, the need for labor in this sector in 2025 is estimated at 336.000 jobs (permanent and fixed-term contracts of more than six months) with recruitment "difficulties" for half of them.

Deploring having discovered the final list on Thursday morning "like everyone else," the CFDT national secretary in charge of migration policies, Lydie Nicol, denounced to the AFP "a consultation that was only that in name."

"This list comes at a time when we should already be discussing its annual update (...) which proves that the government is playing for time in order to avoid implementing the only measure in the immigration law that allows for improved regularization through work," said the union representative.

"This list is the result of tensions between the Minister of Labor and the Minister of the Interior and does not take into account the full reality of labor and training needs," pointed out Gérard Ré, confederal secretary of the CGT.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, a champion of reducing immigration, has reiterated that employers should recruit legally unemployed foreigners.

This list "articulates the demands of the labor market, human realities and the country's economic priorities," said Minister of Labor Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet in a statement.

"Its publication and use go hand in hand with the continuation of our efforts to combat unemployment among foreigners in France and to fill unfilled positions through regular, selective, regulated labor immigration that is consistent with our national interests," she added.