Why Indian subcontinent immigrant? Only because they are the ones I am most familiar with through my work as a translatoe. Why Paris and nowhere else? Because I operate in the Paris region and this is where they (immigrants) are the most concentrated in numbers.
To find a way/reason to come and live in France is not easy. The immigration process is generally strict and limited to very few valid reasons. This makes it difficult for citizens of other countries to try and find a way to come and live in France. The living conditions in the Indian-subcontinent countries is very hard even now in the 21st century when compared to western Europe. Only the privileged can enjoy a decent standard of living while the vast majority suffer from a lack of infrastructure, education, social structures, highly corrupted politics, even poverty, uncontrolled human population etc. As a result, people of such countries want to move away to Europe where a better future will be secured for their children and the next generations. This is how most people consider becoming immigrants.
There are two types of immigrants who enter a country (I shall concentrate just on France). Those who apply for visas and enter it legally with passports, official papers etc and those who, with no official papers, enter the country illegally through the country's borders, in other words clandestinely. They won't have their passports on them and will barely have any identity papers at the time of crossing.
The ones who do things legally will have had to undergo an arduous process of finding the right reason to travel to the country: tourism, studying, staying with a family member who is an EU citizen etc. Such a person will have to have some funds to cover basic costs like food, accommodation, sightseeing, course fees etc. as he is not expecting to receive anything for free and plans his budget well in advance. An immigrant crossing illegally will barely have any money, mostly because he/she has been informed (by some villains called agents or 'passeurs' in French) that accommodation and food will be taken care of by the government. Such a person will also have to rely heavily on the goodness of his/her own compatriots who will initially share their living space and food with them.
The illegally entered are the ones who will go on to try and obtain the status of refugees. This is where the meaning of the word 'refugees' gets corrupted. Asylum is granted by the authorities only after a lengthy process where the immigrant has to answer many questions. The seeker has to be able to convince the authorities that there is real danger to his/her life if he were to return to the country. The majority of the immigrants fail to obtain the refugee status after which they try to live in the country in an illegal manner. Thus begins a life with huge uncertainty. Though there is accommodation provided (a small living space in the city suburbs) either by the government or they pay the rent but this takes up everything they earn through social welfare, the quality of life for the immigrant gets diminished due to not knowing the language, the culture, social mores, education system for their children, their own cultural values that would hinder them to progress etc. All of these differences could be alleviated if the immigrant has a solid education himself, but in the majority of the cases I see, the immigrant is not even fluent in his own language as they discontinued school much too early in their childhoods. They have difficulty in being articulate, difficulty in writing and reading their own language.
The biggest lack is the lack of a strong community who can help the immigrant. The Indian-subcontinent immigrants generally have always gone towards the English-speaking countries as the language is more familiar to them (thanks to the 90 years of British rule ) so the ones who do come to France are handicapped by the language and very unheard-of and foreign culture. As a result, the community as a whole have not progressed enough to give lending hands to each other.
This was a brief introduction to the profile of the Indian subcontinent illegal immigrant living in France. They outnumber (greatly) those who did enter the country legally and continue living legally. The ones who entered and live legally are the ones who also make progress in their lives. Their children certainly go on to have bright futures. Unfortunately the illegal ones cannot take pride in their following generation of children. Of course there are exceptions but it is the average Indian subcontinent immigrant who has not been able to make a success of life.
Through my following posts I will explore deeply into the reasons why this is the situation. Why does not the "failed" immigrant return home? With what promising thought and plan had he set out his journey to come to Europe? What future do they see for themselves when they get old one day and still without French passports? How are the other immigrant communities faring? How do the French see the Indian-subcontinent group? So many questions, so many uncertainties! This is the first ever blog of its kind. If anyone is interested to leave their own thoughts in the comments, you are more than welcome!
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