France's new immigration minister is set to implement legislation that would allow DNA testing of new arrivals

Eric Besson has said the tests would establish which foreigners were claiming visas by making up fictitious family ties with those already settled in the country. The tests will be 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. A recent report said there was often doubt over the authenticity of papers in family applications for visas. It claimed that in African countries such as Senegal, Ivory Coast and Togo up to 80% 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 would become widespread.