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LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

How good does your French need to be to get citizenship?

France has toughened up the language requirements to get citizenship. But in reality how fluent does your French actually have to be?

Published: 27 February 2020 16:25 CET
Updated: 13 July 2022 09:19 CEST
How good does your French need to be to get citizenship?
If you can understand this, well, that's a start. Photo: AFP

Currently there are no formal language requirements for residency – although there are plans to change this – but if you want to take French citizenship, you need to pass a French exam.

What is the requirement?

In order to become a French citizen there are of course a number of criteria that you need to fulfil. Full details on the process here but if you are applying through residency you need to have been here five years and be able to provide all sorts of paperwork to prove that you are able to support yourself and are leading a law-abiding lifestyle.

In addition to this, you need to be able to speak French (not unreasonable really, once you are a citizen you can then be called up for jury duty so you could potentially be deciding on the course of someone’s life).

The language test was made tougher in April 2020.

So just how good does your French need to be? Well the level required is B1 under the European CERL framework.

B1 language level is defined as someone who is is able to handle day-to-day matters that arise in school, work or leisure. 

They should be able to get by while travelling in an area where only French is spoken, and should be able to describe events and justify things like opinions, plans, or even ambitions. 

READ ALSO The nine French words you need to be very, very careful when pronouncing


In addition to the language, you also need to know about French culture. Photo: AFP

What were the changes?

The level has been set at B1 for many years, but from 2020 candidates have been required to take a written test, as well as speaking, reading and listening exams.

An exemption for the over 60s has also been scrapped.

What do the tests involve?

If you already have a degree from a French university or a language diploma you won’t need to do extra tests, but assuming you have no formal language qualifications of the type recognised by French authorities you will have to go and sit several tests.

The certificate you present to authorities when you make your citizenship application also cannot be more than two years old.

The tests you need to take are:

  • Oral comprehension – 25 minutes. This test involves listening to a tape and answering questions about the content, usually multiple choice answers
  • Oral discussion – 10 to 15 minutes. This is a one-on-one interview with an examiner who asks you progressively more difficult questions, towards the end of the chat you are also given the opportunity to ask questions or start a debate with your examiner on the topic
  • Written tests – reading 45 minutes and writing 30 minutes. Candidates are expected to read a selection of French texts (newspaper articles, memos, adverts etc) and answer questions about their content, then write a piece on a given topic in a specified style (formal letter, email, memo, news report etc).

The costs can vary depending where you do them, but €140 for all four parts is standard. You do not have to take all the parts at the same time, but all your certificates need to be less than two years old when you present them to the authorities.

READ ALSO The most common and embarrassing French language problems laid bare

Who has to do them?

Not everyone has to take a new test, there are some French qualifications that are accepted including a degree from a French university and a language diploma.

And is that the only language test?

Not quite. As part of the citizenship process, you are also required to have an interview at your local préfecture (or the Préfecture de Police if you are in Paris) where they test you on your knowledge of French history, culture and values.

This isn’t a formal language test but the interview is of course conducted in French and if you language seems to be far below the standard required you could be rejected.

In neighbouring Switzerland (where the process for getting citizenship is extremely tough) a woman who passed the language test and made it all the way to the interview stage was rejected because she apparently said ‘uh’ 200 times during the interview.

What about residency?

There is currently no formal language requirement for the carte de séjour residency card or for a visa, so you only need to start taking tests if you want to actually become French.

That said though, the majority of the application process for residency (with the exception of special online process that was put in place for British people who were already resident in France before the end of the Brexit transition period) are of course in French.

You will also have to go to the préfecture to provide fingerprints, so if your French is at a very basic level it would be a good idea to have a French-speaking friend help you with the process to make sure you have understood everything correctly.

Interior minister Gérald Darmanin in July 2022 announced plans to introduce a language test for certain types of residency card. 

Member comments

  1. Are they going to make this retrospective for those who got a CdS under the Brexit Treaty? Mine currently runs until 2031, will I have to take a test (at the age of 82!) to renew it?

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For members

SCHOOLS

Are packed lunches really banned in French schools?

School children in France are entitled to a lunchtime meal of three, or even four courses – but what if you prefer to provide meals yourself? 

Published: 22 May 2024 12:24 CEST
Are packed lunches really banned in French schools?

French school meals are, famously, pretty good – children get a three or even four-course meal of properly prepared dishes and the menu (including cheese course) is usually published in the local town newsletter so everyone can see the types of meals being served.

The concept of a proper meal at lunchtime is an important one. “The diet of a school-age child is essential for their growth, mental development and learning abilities,” the French Education Ministry says in a preamble about school meals on its website. “It must be balanced, varied and distributed throughout the day: for example 20 percent of total energy in the morning, 40 percent at midday, 10 percent at four o’clock and 30 percent in the evening.”

And it’s not all about nutrition, the social aspect of sitting together and eating a meal is also important – the ministry continues: “Mealtime is an opportunity for students to relax and communicate. It should also be a time for discovery and enjoyment.”

All schools provide meals in a canteen and most pupils take up the opportunity – however it’s also possible for pupils to go home at lunchtime so that they can eat lunch with their parents.

The idea of taking in a packed lunch (panier-repas) is much less common in France – but is it actually banned?

The rules on lunch

At écoles (up to age 11), the local authority or établissement public de coopération intercommunale (EPCI) is responsible for providing quality school meals. This generally involves meals being provided via a central kitchen, and then delivered to the school’s kitchen, where it can be kept warm, or reheated as necessary.

The system is slightly different in collèges and lycées (attended by children aged 11 and up). In those establishments, catering falls into the purview of the wider département or region – and is routinely managed directly by individual establishments, which will have catering staff on site to prepare meals. Often, meal services are outsourced to private businesses, which operate the kitchens.

There are various rules and regulations in place regarding what food is offered, and how long a child has to eat – which is, in part, why the school lunch period is so long. Children must be allowed a 30-minute period to eat their meal, from the moment they sit down with it at the table. 

Then, they’re given time to play and relax before afternoon classes start.

READ ALSO What you need to know if your child is starting school in France

At a minimum lunch must include a main course with a side dish, a dairy-based product, as well as a starter and/or a dessert. Meals must also, the government says, be composed of 50 percent sustainable quality products (including 20 percent organic).

Some local authorities go further and serve only or mostly food that is organic, locally sourced or both.

Water and bread must be freely available, but salt and condiments can only be added in preparation – no sauce bottles or salt and pepper on the tables. 

Daily menus are generally available to view on school websites and many town newspapers or newsletters also publish them.

Parents pay a fee for the school lunch, which is calculated according to income and can be free in the case of low-income families.

Packed lunch

But what if your child doesn’t like the school lunches and you don’t have time to pick them up, cook a full lunch and take them back in the afternoon everyday? The obvious solution would seem to be to send them in with a packed lunch, as is common in the UK and USA.

In theory this is possible, but only in certain circumstances and with very strict rules and caveats. 

The Ministry, in a written response to a Senator’s question in 2019, said: “The use of packed lunches [home-supplied meals] by primary school students can provide an alternative to school meals. This method of catering is authorised in particular for children with a medically established food allergy or intolerance, requiring an adapted diet.”

READ ALSO How to enrol a non-French speaking child in school in France

It added: “the preparation and use of packed lunches in schools must follow certain rules. First of all, it is important to respect the cold chain”.

The cold chain is a term applied to food handling and distribution – it’s usually used by food-preparation businesses, but in the context of a packed lunch it means that food prepared at home must be kept in appropriately cool conditions until it is ready to eat. It would be the responsibility of parents to ensure that the food is delivered to school in containers appropriate for the job (ie an insulated cool bag).

Once at the school, it is up to whoever manages the kitchen to ensure that food is properly reheated. This becomes the sticking point at which many parents’ requests to send their children to school with a packed lunch, rather than go to the canteen, or eat back at home, are refused.

The reheating concern suggests that schools are also expecting parents to prepare a proper meal – rather than just throwing some sandwiches and a cereal bar into a bag.

Unless there’s a genuine and proven health reason for your child to eat a home-prepared meal, most parents will probably find the school won’t budge on this – even in cases of a strike by kitchen staff or lunch monitors.

READ ALSO Just how much do private schools in France cost?

The Ministry’s written response explains: “[A]s this is an optional public service, the municipality can justify its refusal to admit the children concerned by objective material and financial constraints, such as the need to equip itself with additional refrigerators, or for additional supervisory staff to supervise them during lunch.”

As well as the practicalities, for some schools this is an equality issue – because of the varied fee structure for school lunches what happens in effect is that richer parents are subsidising a good quality lunchtime meal for poorer students in the class; if everyone brought in a packed lunch and therefore stopped paying the fee, the lower-income kids would miss out. 

What about allergies or other health issues?

Children with allergies or other health issues that require a particular diet must be accommodated. An individual meal plan – known as a projet d’accueil individualisé (PAI) can be set up. More details (in French) are available here, on the government’s website.

It also becomes easier for parents to provide home-produced meals in such instances. As ever, it is up to the parents to ensure any meals are appropriately packaged and transported to school.

Not all schools

Some individual schools in France do permit pupils to bring in meals from home. They must be taken to school in an appropriate cold-storage container, and they will be stored in the kitchen area until they are needed, when meals will – if necessary – be reheated.

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