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FRENCH CITIZENSHIP

When are children born in France eligible for French citizenship?

French citizenship carries plenty of advantages but it is not always a straightforward process - even if you were born here.

Published: 26 March 2022 12:27 CET
Updated: 19 September 2022 15:03 CEST

Being born in France doesn't always guarantee you French citizenship.(Photo by Martin BUREAU / AFP)

Children born to foreign parents in France are automatically given French nationality in the following circumstances:

One of the parents was born in France, even if they are not a citizen;
One of the parents was born in Algeria before 3 July 1962;
The child is born stateless – their parents have no legal nationality; the parents are unknown; the parents come from a country where nationality is only given if you were born there.

In any other situation, a child born to foreign parents in France can only become French at the age of 13, if they meet a number of conditions.

Age 13-15

Those born in France to foreign parents can apply to become French between 13-15 if the following criteria are met:

The child has lived in France on a regular basis – this means they have spent most of their time in France since the age of 8-years-old
The child is living in France at the time of their application
The child consents to becoming French (unless they do not have the mental or physical capacity to do so).

One of or both of the child’s parents or legal carer must write a déclaration de nationalité française on behalf of the child – be sure to make two copies. On the declaration, you will need to provide the name, surname, date of birth and place of birth of the minor and their representative.

This declaration must be sent by post or handed directly to your local tribunal judiciaire (find your closest one here).

You will also need to provide the following:

Birth certificate less than three months old (you can apply for a copy of your birth certificate at any age in France);
ID document;
Recent ID photos;
A titre de séjour of the foreign parent or representative with an official overseas ID document;
Proof that the minor lives in France;
Proof that the minor has been frequently living in France and has resided in the country for at least 5 whole years since the age of 8;
Proof that the legal representative of the child has parental authority (birth certificate or adoption certificate).

Original versions of these documents, rather than photocopies, are required.

If the child has children of their own who live with them, birth certificates and added proof will be required. In some circumstances, the tribunal may ask you to have the child medically examined to check their physical and mental capacity to voluntarily ask for citizenship.

Any documents written in another language must be translated into French by a registered translator.

Once you have submitted evidence, the child is given a récépissé or receipt and an interview is organised to ensure that the child has given their consent.

Judicial authorities have six months to register the declaration – or refuse to give nationality. They can change their mind after two years if they discover retrospectively that the legal conditions for nationality are not met or if you have lied on the form.

If the request for nationality has been confused, you can contest it in the sixth months following the decision. You will need to hire a lawyer to do so.

Age 16-18

Those born in France to foreign parents can apply to become French between 16-18 if the following criteria are met:

They live in France at the time of applying;
They have lived in France regularly since the age of 11, for a period of at least five years.
They consent to becoming French (unless they do not have the mental or physical capacity to do so).

Unlike for those aged 13-15, this age group can deliver the necessary documents without parental authority.

The declaration of nationality can be sent by post or handed over in person by the applicant.

All the same documents are necessary as for the 13-15 age group.

Adults

If you over the age of 18 and were born in France to foreign parents, you can apply for citizenship if you meet the following conditions:

You lived in france at the age of 18;
You lived in France regularly for a period of at least five years since the age of 11;
Your parents are not diplomatic agents or consulate staff

Officially, if you meet the above criteria, you become French automatically at the age of 18.

However you should apply for a certificat de nationalité française at the age of 18. To do this, you will need to present proof that you have lived in France regularly for a period of five years since the age of 11 (school certificates, work contracts etc.)

What if one of the child’s parents obtains French nationality?

If a child’s parent has just obtained French nationality by applying for citizenship, the child become French if the following conditions are met:

The child lives in France with this parent (at least part-time in the case of divorce);
The name of the child is mentioned on the naturalisation decree of the parent.

It is possible to apply for naturalisation of a child living overseas if one of their parents has become French. However, the child must have lived in France with the newly-French parent for at least five years prior to the request being made.

If the parent becomes French by the time their child has reached the age of 18, the child cannot then become French through their parent.

What if one of the child’s parents was born French?

A child whose parents are French at the time of their birth is considered French, even if the child was born overseas.

If the parent loses their French nationality once the child has become an adult, this has no impact.

If the lineage of the child is contested once they become an adult, French nationality will not be stripped from them.

What if the child has been adopted by French parents?

An adoption plénière (full adoption, in which there is a total break with the original parents of the child) signed before the child is born can bestow French nationality on that child at birth.

If the adoption happened overseas, it will only be possible to apply for French nationality this way if the adoption has the same legal standing as an adoption plénière in France.

An adoption simple (in which a link with the original parents is somewhat maintained) does not automatically guarantee French nationality.

The following conditions must be met:

The child must be less than 18-years-old at the time they apply for citizenship;
The child must live in France when the application is made, unless they have been adopted by a Frenchman living abroad;
The person who adopted the child must have been French at the moment of the adoption itself.

The process of applying for citizenship is the same as for children born in France to non-French parents, except that you will also need to provide adoption documents.

What other ways can I get French nationality?

You don’t have to be born in France to obtain French nationality.

There are two main alternative routes for applying for citizenship – through residency or through marriage.

Residency

If you are applying through residency you need to have been resident in France for at least five years.That can be reduced to two years if you have completed postgraduate studies at a French university.

Those applying via residency will also need to prove they can speak French to B1 level, they have an adequate knowledge of France, its culture, history and politics and also show they have integrated into and appreciate the French way of life.

They will need to show they have a clean criminal record (for those who have less than 10 years residence in France) and that their tax payments are up to date, including tax return notices for the three years prior to filing the application for French citizenship. They will also need to prove they are financially sustainable. In other words they have a job or some other form of income.

Marriage

If you are applying through marriage you need to have been married for four years, but do not actually need to be living in France.

If you have children born in France you can apply for citizenship on their behalf once they turn 13, and if you get citizenship your children are also given citizenship.

If you get into a PACS (which is like a civil partnership) with a French person, you do not automatically get nationality.

Other

There are some other less common ways to get citizenship. One is to join the French Foreign Legion, as anyone who serves five years in the Legion or who is injured on active service qualifies for citizenship (although you might want to check out what their training involves first) and the other is to perform an outstanding service for France.

Some people who have achieved something superb are offered French nationality and foreigners who worked on the frontline during the Covid pandemic have been offered fast-track citizenship.

You can read more about applying for French nationality HERE.

This article serves as guidance on how to obtain French nationality but in certain circumstances, additional documents and procedures may be required. If you are in any doubt, contact your local tribunal.

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French citizenship: How long does it take for your application to be dealt with?

Applying to become French is a complicated and lengthy process and the first step is gathering together a huge dossier of documents in order to make your application.

But once you have made your request to become French, what next? And how long can you expect to wait?

Make the application

Exactly how you make the application depends on whether you are applying for citizenship through residency, marriage or ancestry.

A recent change to the citizenship process means that those who are applying through residency (par décret) now make their application online – full details here.

Explained: How to use France’s new citizenship portal

Meanwhile those applying through marriage to a French person or through ancestry (par déclaration) continue to use the paper system. It seems likely that eventually those applications will also be brought online, but at present the process is different.

If you have a child who was born in France you can make an application on their behalf once they reach 13, and that is a different process again – full details here.

However you make the application, you will need to put together a big dossier of documents and it’s well worth taking some time over this to make sure that you supply exactly what is being asked for (with certified translations if applicable) as any requests for extra documents will slow down the whole process.

What next?

If you are applying online, you can follow your application through the various stages via your account on the ANEF website.

If you are applying on paper then you cannot track it as closely, but the steps described are broadly the same.

Document check – the first stage is checking your documents, but they are only being checked to ensure that they are ‘legible, usable and conform to what was requested’ – this is not a check on your application itself. You might be asked to resubmit documents if the scan is out of focus, for example, or if the document is not what was requested – for example you sent a short-form copy of your birth certificate rather than the long-form one.

Birth certificate: When you need it in France and how to request one

You may also be asked for extra documents if you were not able to supply exactly the document requested. At this stage you may also be requested to provide extra translations of documents that are not in French – take careful note of whether a certified translation by an approved translator is required.

Request accepted – once the documents have been checked, your request for citizenship will then be officially ‘déposé’ or accepted. This is the official start date of your application. It also means that any new laws that subsequently come into force – for example changing the qualifications for citizenship – cannot be applied to your application.

Application check – once the request is accepted, staff at the préfecture then begin checking the application itself. It is at this stage that you may again be asked for extra documents, this time relating to the application itself – common examples are people being asked to supply extra documents relating to their financial status such as tax declarations or proof of income in another country.

Récépissé – once your dossier has been fully examined it will then be accepted or rejected. Rejection is much more common for people applying by residency and common reasons include not having spent the full qualifying period in France, not being able to show that your ‘main financial and family centre’ is in France (eg having a spouse or minor children who live abroad or having all your work in another country) or inability to show that you have ‘sufficient and stable income’ to support yourself in France.

Citizenship via marriage or ancestry is a right, so it should be granted as long as you can supply all the documentation required, but citizenship by residency is at the discretion of officials and can be refused. Roughly one third of all citizenship applications are refused and the most common reasons are having a criminal record or insufficient finances.

If your dossier is approved, you will be sent a récépissé de complétude – this only means that your dossier is acceptable, it doesn’t mean that you will definitely get citizenship.

Interview – once your dossier is accepted you will be sent a date for your interview. This is an in-person interview that takes place at the préfecture that is handling your application. Exactly how much notice you get for the interview varies, most people are sent the notice some weeks or even months in advance, but it can happen that people get only a few days’ notice so it’s a good idea to start revising in advance.

At the interview you will be asked questions about how well you know France – from its history and culture to political and democratic structures via popular culture. Exactly what people are asked varies widely, some people report being grilled on every aspect of France and French life while others report just a quick and friendly chat.

It’s a good idea to revise the Livret du Citoyen, which can be downloaded for free here.

If you’re applying through marriage expect a few questions on how you met, in-laws and how you structure your family life.

One question you will certainly be asked is why you want to become French – and here you will need to show that you truly value France and French values. Mumbling that you want a shorter passport queue is unlikely to cut it.

Phone calls and emails – some people report getting phone calls from their préfecture during the process to request extra documents, which is more common for people who have applied on paper. These usually come from a withheld or private number so if you regularly screen your calls it might be a good idea to start picking up once your application is live. Likewise it’s a good idea to regularly check your spam or junk folder for any emails that accidentally got filtered while people who applied online should regularly check the portal for messages.

Police visit – this usually only applies to people requesting citizenship through marriage, but sometimes local police visit you at home. In most cases this is basically to check that you’re really married, not just officially married for citizenship purposes. They are checking out that your home looks like two (or more) people live there and that you appear to know each other. The police visit doesn’t happen to everyone and is generally more common in smaller towns and villages but it can be part of the process.

Decision – you won’t be told at the interview whether you have passed or not – although some of the friendlier interviewers do sometimes tip applicants the wink that it will probably be OK – but the next stage is the final decision and (if you are approved) being added to the electoral roll and the decree being published in the Journal Officiel (for those applying via residency).

Exactly what order these happen in varies – some people get the letter or email from the préfecture first, others find out when they see their name in the JO or check the electoral register.

The hack to find out early about your French citizenship application

Ceremony – at some point, you will be invited to an official ceremony at the préfecture. This often happens many months after your application is approved. The ceremony is optional and you don’t need to wait for the ceremony begin doing official things like applying for a French passport or ID card, or voting in an election.

Whether you go to the ceremony is up to you, it’s not necessary from a practical point of view but many people report that the ceremonies are quite moving as groups of people from all over the world are officially welcomed to the French republic.

How long?

And now the €1 million question – how long does all this take? And the answer, as so often in France, is ça dépend – in this case it depends on both how you applied and where you live.

The shortest process of all is usually applying on behalf of a child born in France to non-French parents – that is a completely different process that just requires examination of a few documents and a quick chat with both child and parents. The whole thing can be wrapped up in less than six months.

Applying via marriage is generally quicker than applying by residency, this is because citizenship through marriage is a right so you only need to provide documents to prove that you fulfil the conditions, then do the interview. The general rule is that applying through marriage takes roughly half the time of applying through residency.

But the big difference is where you live – applications are dealt with on a local level and some préfectures are just faster than others.

The very broad average is that it takes between 18 months and two years between submitting your dossier and being accepted, but expect wide variations between different préfectures. If you get the process completed in less than a year you are doing well while in some places you could be waiting up to three years.

Facebook groups for naturalisation applications can be helpful to gain more localised time estimates – but make sure that your situation is comparable; ie that you are applying at the same préfecture and through the same method.

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