The head of the office announced on Wednesday that some 5,000 foreigners in an unregulated situation would benefit from a “voluntary return” to their country of origin in 2021, with a financial equivalent in a “difficult” reference to forced expulsion. (OFI).

“For voluntary departures, we increased to 8,000 in 2019, but stopping air transport, health difficulties brought us back to about 5,000 departures in 2021”, compared to about 4,500 in 2020, explained Didier Leschi.

The head of Ofii was auditioned for his appointment to a new term before a parliamentary vote by the Law Commission of the National Assembly, which administers these “voluntary returns”.

The process involves, for the state, offering a flight and money (at least 1,850 euros) to encourage a foreigner who wants to leave France to return to his home country.

lire aussi: Islam en France: les instances représentatives en pleine restructuration

“We are in a very difficult phase from the point of view of migration (to the extent) due to the health crisis”, underlined Didier Leschi.

“It will be one of the challenges (of the next term) to initiate a very proactive action for voluntary departure, part of which benefits from reunification aid in the country of origin”, he said. for follow-up action.

“I find it important to ensure that people, once they no longer have a residence permit, return to their country of origin in the best possible conditions and stabilize them by allowing them to develop an economic activity.” , said the Director General of OFI.

In 2020, the expulsion of illegal aliens in France (51.8%) was halved