France plans DNA testing on immigrants to stop illegal entry

The controversial scheme would allow the authorities to test those they suspect of claiming false family links.

For example, it would help prevent someone pretending he was related to a family already in France to gain a visa.

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Civil liberties groups reacted furiously to the government plan put forward by Thierry Mariani, an MP of the governing UMP party and a close confidant of President Nicolas Sarkozy.

It envisages DNA tests for applications for visas of more than three months when there are doubts about an immigrant's birth or marriage certificates.

The move would allow officials to 'propose' to applicants that they take a test at their own expense to prove a biological link with other family members.

Within a new immigration bill being introduced to the French parliament is a desire to impose tighter conditions for families seeking to enter France to join their relatives.

Mr Mariani said DNA tests would be a "sure, rapid' way to address the problem of 'documentary fraud".

A report this summer by UMP senator Adrien Gouteyron said there was often doubt over the authenticity of papers in family applications for visas.

He claimed that in African countries such as Senegal, Ivory Coast and Togo up to 80 per cent of birth and marriage certificates were forged.

Government statistics show there are 23,000 immigration cases a year where visa applications involve children, meaning DNA tests could become widespread.

Immigrant welfare groups said the plan was unacceptable.

Daniele Lochak, a former president of GISTI, a group providing information and support for immigrants, said: "It's obvious that applicants who refuse DNA tests will have every chance of having their visas refused."

The cost of up to £350 for a test is also likely to be beyond the reach of many immigrant families.

France has strict controls on DNA testing.

The civil code says studies of a person's genetic characteristics can only be for medical or scientific research.

The law allows tests only when authorised by a magistrate in strictly defined cases of need to prove family links.

Mr Sarkozy has pledged that France will deport 25,000 illegal immigrants in

2007.

Immigration minister Brice Hortefeux summoned 20 prefects from around the country this week to chastise them for not meeting deportation targets.