French woman told not French enough for Quebec residency

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Montreal: A French woman seeking permanent residency in Quebec was turned down on grounds on her French was not good enough.
Emilie Dubois, 31, has lived in the mainly French-speaking province since 2012, completed her doctoral thesis at Laval University in Quebec City in French started a small business in the province and even passed a language test.
But all that wasn't enough to convince Quebec officials to give her an immigration suitability certificate that is a prerequisite to gaining permanent residency.
"It's absurd," she told AFP.
French is the official language of government, commerce and the courts in Quebec -- a former French colony ceded to Britain in 1763.
But the province's French majority has often faced criticism for its arguably heavy-handed defense of the language of Moliere.
Most recently a backlash ensued over plans to require anyone wanting services in English to prove their ancestral English roots in the province.
According to a letter from the Quebec immigration ministry, Dubois was turned down because she had not completed her dissertation entirely in French.
One chapter of her doctoral thesis on cellular and molecular biology was written in English because it was a scholarly article published in a scientific journal. But the other four chapters were written in French.
"It's absurd, but I must believe that someone just made a mistake," said Dubois, a Francophone from Burgundy in eastern France.
"You just have to look at the reality of things and not consider that we are just boxes, folders, numbers, but that we are real people and if they have doubts, they can also reach out to us."
Quebec's immigration minister, Simon Jolin-Barrette, is reportedly aware of the case and has asked for a review.
Determined to press on, Dubois said "my desire to stay in Quebec is stronger."
 

AFP

Africans migrants protest Israel detention law

May the Almighty God deliver Africans from the anomaly of being illegal immigrants in other people's country as a controversial law in Israel allows authorities to detain people without valid visas for up to three years.

With the increase in detention and as much as 300 Africans detained in the last three weeks after the detention law was implemented by the Israeli Parliament, Africans have been targets of police. However, on Sunday about 10,000 African migrants protested the detention law allowing Israel to detain people without proper documentation. Many of the demonstrators held banners demanding the release of fellow migrants who were jailed for being in the country illegally.  

Over 60,000 migrants have crossed into Israel since 2006 across an Egypt border, mostly from Eritrea and Sudan. Many live in poor areas of Tel Aviv and are seeking asylum in the country. Israeli authorities see these African migrants as threat to their national security and social fabric.

Migrants who are arrested are taken to a facility, in which detainees can leave during the day but must report back by nightfall. Migrants can be held there indefinitely pending voluntary repatriation, implementation of deportation order or the resolution of their asylum requests. Many migrants who take refuge in Israel are fleeing from war or persecution in their countries of origin, but very few are granted official refugee status by the government. Many live on temporary visas and subsist on menial jobs.

Hotline for Migrant Workers, an organisation that advocates for Africans, accuses Israel of pressuring hundreds in its jails to accept payouts and leave. More than left for Eritrea earlier this year, having won release from prison.

The poverty in Africa is so much that our very best brains have fled to search for greener pastures abroad. Unfortunately the governments have not  helped with their .unfriendly policies and corruption.

Please share your African stories on life abroad and leave a comment.