France says no mass amnesty for illegal migrants

PARIS (Reuters) - France will give work permits to hundreds of illegal immigrants on a case-by-case basis but will not offer a general amnesty, the government said on Thursday.

The powerful CGT trade union and the government saynegotiations are going smoothly over the fate of illegalworkers, some of whom have been on strike since last week todemand legal status.

"Today... around 800 dossiers have been submitted, thatgives an indication of the number," Immigration Minister BriceHortefeux told RTL radio. He also told Le Figaro newspaperthere would be "no massive regularisation".

Some restaurant and hotel industry groups say there will bea crisis unless the government softens its stance on illegalimmigration, and the hotel sector has called for 50,000 to100,000 work permits to be awarded.

Churches and rights groups regularly call for an end todeportations, which have increased since President NicolasSarkozy made clamping down on illegal immigration a prioritywhen he was interior minister in a previous government.

They also want clearer rules to govern illegal immigrants,but Hortefeux says current measures are sufficient as theyallow local officials to issue work permits to applicants whoare already employed in sectors short of labour.

The far-right National Front rejects any granting of workpermits to illegal immigrants and has called for a protest onFriday against the hotel industry's request.

Since the 1960s, France has given hundreds of thousands ofwork permits to illegal immigrants, though the numbers havebeen on a clear downward trend in recent years.

Sarkozy has spoken out against broad amnesties declaredunilaterally by some European Union countries, arguing that theEU's open borders mean a single state's policy affects the blocas a whole.

In 2006, Italy granted residency to some 500,000 illegalimmigrants, while Spain legalised almost 570,000.

Sarkozy wants to harmonise EU immigration policy, a themeon which he is likely to focus when France takes up the27-member bloc's rotating presidency in July.

(Reporting by Gerard Bon and Brian Rohan, editing by MarkTrevelyan)