Newsgroup: it.politica.ulivo
Titolo: IMPRONTE DIGITALI

ANCHE IN FRANCIA ADESSO !!!!!!!!
news.bbc.co.uk
Last Updated: Wednesday, 30 April, 2003, 16:15 GMT 17:15 UK
France to fingerprint tourist visa applicants
[[Picture] Tourist visa applicants will all be fingerprinted if plans are
approved ]
All applicants for tourist visas to visit France will be
fingerprinted under measures approved by the French cabinet on
Wednesday.
The plan is part of a clampdown on illegal immigration spearheaded
by French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.
More than 7,000 people have already been deported this year, Mr
Sarkozy has announced.
Other measures include a five-year wait for residency papers - up
from the current three, a requirement for applicants to prove their
"integration" into French society, and the systematic expulsion of
tens of thousands of illegal immigrants.
[[Box] IMMIGRATION PLANS
Fingerprinting of all tourist visa applicants
Five-year wait for residency papers - up from three
Requirement to prove "integration" including knowledge of French
Illegal immigrants can be held for 32 days instead of 12
Two years' marriage to gain residency - up from one
Easing of deportation rules after jail terms  ]
Mr Sarkozy's plan was accepted by the French cabinet on Wednesday,
and now goes to parliament for approval.
"If you have your papers you are welcome in France. If you have
false papers, or if you have no papers, you will be accompanied to
your country of origin," Mr Sarkozy said after the meeting.
"It shows that one can be at the same time firm and just. Indeed
one is firm because one is just," he said.
President Jacques Chirac welcomed the plan, praising its "firmness
and humanity".
"It will give France the judicial authority to take to the border
foreigners who don't have the right to reside on the national soil,"
he said, quoted by government spokesman Jean-Jacques Cope.
[[Picture] Nearly 80% of people found without papers came to France on a
three-month tourist visa
Nicolas Sarkozy ]
Mr Chirac's right-wing government has focused heavily on law and
order as well as combating illegal immigration since his re-election
last year.
The fingerprinting rule would not apply to European Union, US or
Japanese citizens who do not need a visa to enter France.
All tourist visa applicants visiting French consulates abroad would
have to give their fingerprints, which would be stored in a data
bank in Paris.
The three-month tourist visas were "patently used for illegal
immigration," Mr Sarkozy told Le Figaro newspaper.
"Nearly 80% of people found without papers came to France on a
three-month tourist visa," Mr Sarkozy told the paper.
"Once on our territory they tear up their papers, or lose them, and
thus become impossible to expel because no one can tell where they
are from."
Mr Sarkozy wants to deport between 20,000 and 30,000 illegal
immigrants every year - roughly the number entering France every
year.
Immigrants 'weakened'
Some human rights groups and opposition politicians said the bill
would victimise foreigners living in France.
[[Box] The problem is to limit this immigration, but in conditions that
don't turn the foreigner into an undesirable
Noel Mamere
Green Party leader ]
They welcomed plans to abolish the so-called "double penalty" under
which immigrants jailed in France can be deported after serving out
their sentences even if they have dependents in France.
But Green Party leader Noel Mamere said that while there was a need
to combat illegal immigration, it should not be at the expense of
human rights.
"The problem is to limit this immigration, but in conditions that
don't turn the foreigner into an undesirable," Mr Mamere told French
television.
The plan would "weaken" the position of immigrants, he said.
The government has denied that its proposals are too harsh.
"The government wants to restore a serene approach to immigration,
with a generous welcome of immigrants - especially victims of
persecution - and the strengthening of the fight against illegal
immigration rings," the text of the plan said.
(C) BBC

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