An IMGW News Report
France has approved a controversial bill restricting access to birthright citizenship in Mayotte – its poorest overseas department – triggering fears of a broader national shift in immigration policy.
“French authorities insist the reform is limited to Mayotte”
Mayotte, a volcanic island in the Mozambique Channel, is an overseas department of France. Despite its geographical location in the Comoros archipelago, Mayotte chose French sovereignty in a 1974 referendum. With a population of around 320,000, the island faces high unemployment, which stands at about 23%, and has a GNI per capita significantly lower than the EU average. Its economy is heavily reliant on French subsidies and imports.
Under the new law, children born on the island will only acquire French nationality if both parents have legally resided there for at least one year. For single-parent households, that requirement applies to the sole parent. Until now, the standard across all French territory has allowed children to become French at age 13, provided one parent had lived in the country for three months at the time of birth.
French authorities insist the reform is limited to Mayotte, where irregular migration has surged and now outpaces the number of native-born inhabitants. The measure, they argue, is necessary to combat so-called “birth tourism” and to relieve pressure on local services.
Yet critics warn that this may be the thin end of the wedge. Dominique Voynet of the Green Party has decried the bill as “a laboratory for far-right ideas,” while Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally, contends the change doesn’t go far enough. She has called for a wholesale repeal of jus soli across the French Republic.
This is not an isolated development. The Mayotte bill follows a pattern of increasingly hardline stances on immigration. In February, France introduced stringent new language requirements for residency applicants – a move that could jeopardise the legal status of over 300,000 foreign residents. Without meeting prescribed French proficiency levels, many risk losing their residence permits – and, by extension, their right to work. Read the full IMGW report here.
While Paris maintains that these policies are about strengthening integration, critics see a broader recalibration of France’s relationship with immigration and nationality—one that could redefine the Republic’s social contract. With European elections approaching and migration once again centre stage, Mayotte may prove not an exception, but a bellwether.
