by Sally Rousset
The nature and specificity of Philippine migration in France cannot be
detached from its history. While France was already a destination in the past for Filipinos who were doing higher studies at the Sorbonne or working in institutions like UNESCO, OECD, the big wave of migrant workers first came in the early 70s, at the time of the Iran-Iraq war, where Filipino workers in the Middle East managed to escape the war by coming to France. Some of them accompanied their employers, who were mostly diplomats, while others hopped into the first plane available that would take them out of the country at war.
This already partly explains the nature of their work: as house employees; in comparison to their predecessors. And it is their status of being legally attached to the country of their diplomat employers (for those who did not come on their own) and the resulting difficulties in terms of working rights, which continues to be one of the main challenges Filipino migrants in France still face today. Along with confronting a quite different culture and difficulty in speaking French. The turn to Europe became inevitable with the worsening problems in the Middle East, and today the entry of migrants to France persists. The number is now estimated at 50 000 but only 12% of these are officially registered.
Strict migration laws has obliged the majority of these Filipinos who wished to stay, but only had limited tourist visas, to overstay as undocumented and clandestine workers. This still means today that, unlike the documented ones, they have no social protection and are excluded from enjoying social security benefits. The harsh consequences of this situation are strongly felt especially when one gets serious health problems. Money saved over long years of work has been easily depleted by hospital bills. As one Filipina put it, “in the long run, is it worth all the pain of leaving one’s home and family, working more than 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, just to give up what one has earned for so many years for a few days of hospitalization ?”
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