From next year, France will start setting quotas for migrant workers, its labour minister said Tuesday, as President Emmanuel Macron's government seeks to toughen immigration policies in response to right-wing criticism, reports France24.

Starting in 2020, authorities working with employers will identify industries lacking qualified candidates and facilitate the hiring of foreigners to fill the gap, Labour Minister Muriel Penicaud said. Currently employers have to justify why a French citizen cannot be hired in a complex administrative process, which resulted in approximately 33,000 economic migrants being granted visas last year. Penicaud did not say how many foreign workers would be granted visas, nor if an applicant's nationality would be taken into account.

The prime minister is to unveil a raft of measures Wednesday signalling the tougher line, after France received a record 122,743 asylum requests last year, up 22 percent from the year before.

The measures could include restrictions on migrants bringing over family members or limiting access to health care for asylum seekers while their claims are processed.

France has also called for overhauling the EU's efforts to halt the surge of migrants fleeing conflict and misery in Asia, the Middle East and Africa since 2015.