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FRENCH CITIZENSHIP

TIMELINE: The 6 steps to French citizenship

France is one of the more generous nations in Europe when it comes to granting citizenship to foreigners, but that doesn't mean that the process is easy - here's how to go about becoming a French citizen.

TIMELINE: The 6 steps to French citizenship
Want to become French? Berets are not essential Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP

Step 1 – Eligibility

Firstly you need to work out whether you are eligible for French citizenship and for foreigners there are two main routes; residency or marriage.

France has one of the shortest residency requirements in Europe – you need five years of continuous residency in order to apply, but this is dropped to two years if you completed higher education in France.

You can also apply through marriage – contrary to popular belief that isn’t an automatic process if you get hitched to a Frenchie; you need to have been married for four years before you apply and you still need to go through the admin process and the interview. You don’t need to be living in France, though.

You can also become a French citizen if you have a French parent, if you were born in France and if you have served for five years in the French Foreign Legion – although these routes all have conditions too.

Find the full explanation of eligibility HERE.

Step 2 – French exam

If you’re applying through residency, you will need to prove that you speak French – you need a certificate that is no more than two years old showing that you have passed reading, writing, speaking and listening French exams to B1 level or above. This is not required for people who completed higher education in France.

You can take our quiz HERE to see what type of language skills you need to pass a B1 exam.

Step 3 – Dossier

Once you’ve established that you meet the criteria for citizenship and you have passed your French exam, it’s time to put together your dossier.

This used to be sent on paper to your local préfecture, but there is now a central web portal where you submit your application online (your préfecture still decides on your application though).

The exact documents that you need vary depending on your personal circumstances but you will usually need a recently re-issued copy of your birth certificate and a certification from your home country that you don’t have a criminal record (if you have lived in France for less than 10 years).

You will also need your French tax returns and documents to prove your address, work status/financial means in France and ID.

Documents not in French will likely need to be translated and you must use a certified translator to do this.

The French government citizenship page has a handy simulator HERE – you enter your personal circumstances and it provides you with a downloadable list of the documents you need. It will probably take you at least a couple of months to get all your documents together, so it’s worth starting in advance.

Once everything is collected, you submit them via the online portal HERE, along with the application form and the €55 citizenship application fee. 

Step 4 – Interview

Once your dossier is submitted, you wait. The online portal allows you to track your application, and this is where any requests for extra documents will be made.

Once your dossier is approved (and this usually takes months) you will be invited to an in-person interview at your local préfecture, where you will be tested on your knowledge of France, its history, culture, politics and values.

QUIZ Could you pass the French citizenship interview?

There is a booklet called the Livret du Citoyen – available to download for free here – that gives you a good outline about what you need to know, but people who have been through the interview report that it varies a lot.

Some people really were grilled for ages on things like France’s five longest rivers (the Seine, the Rhine, the Rhone, the Loire and the Garonne, incidentally) while others report just a couple of questions or a quick chat.

Philosophy, household chores and cheese – what you might be asked in the French citizenship interview

One thing you will almost certainly be asked is why you want to become French, and saying that it’s for administrative convenience/shorter airport lines is likely to go down badly – you need to demonstrate that the value France, you are committed to the country and you are prepared to uphold French values like laïcité and equality between men and women.

People do get turned down for citizenship after the interview, so it’s not just a formality.

Step 5 – Citizenship ceremony

Some time after the interview you will be notified on whether you passed and – if you did – invited to a naturalisation ceremony where you will be presented with your certificate of naturalisation that makes you officially French.

Your name will also appear in the Journal Officiel with the list of all new French citizens – you are officially French from the moment that your name is in the JO, even if you have not yet had your ceremony, and from this point you can apply for your passport.

The ceremony us usually held at the préfecture or mairie, you will likely get a little speech from the local official, perhaps a video illustrating the greatness of the country you are now a citizen of and of course you will all sing the Marseillaise (they hand out lyrics sheets, so you don’t need to learn it off by heart).

Step 6 – Passport and ID 

You are now French, but if you want to use your new identity for administrative or travel purposes, you will next need to apply for a French ID card and/or a passport, sending off a copy of your precious naturalisation certificate.

How long does all this take?

Because the process is on a préfecture level it varies quite widely depending on where you are in the country, but the average time is between 18 months and two years.

It usually takes several months to get your dossier validated, longer if you need to supply extra documents. The invitation to the interview is usually (although not always) sent at least a couple of months in advance, and then it’s normal to wait several months to hear if you passed.

Sending off for a new passport or ID card also takes several months, so you need patience at every step of the way.

How much does it cost?

The official cost of citizenship is just €55, but in reality most people will spend much more than this.

If you need any documents translating into French you must use the services of a certified translator, and they usually charge €30-€40 per page so it’s not unusual to spend a couple of hundred euro on translation fees.

If you need to take the language exam you will also have to pay for that, and that can also be over €100, more if you want to take a few classes in preparation.

The exam must be administered by a DELF-approved language school, this would cover anything run by the French government or the larger language schools.

One tip for people who are employees in France is to use your annual government-funded training budget Mon Compte Formation for a French course with an exam at the end of it.

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FRENCH CITIZENSHIP

Guide: How to request French nationality for your child

Children born in France to foreign parents have the right to citizenship through 'droit du sol' - however this doesn't mean that they are French from birth. Instead it involves a long delay, a file of paperwork and an application to your local authority. Here's how to do it.

Guide: How to request French nationality for your child

Who is eligible?

Children who are born to at least one French parent can become French from birth.

Conversely, if you arrive in France with young children in tow, those children will have to wait until they’re adults and apply in their own right, via the traditional and frustratingly slow-moving application processIn theory, applications may be submitted from the age of 17 – but the online application process does throw up several obstacles, not least obtaining a recognised online ID, which requires the applicant to be 18. 

The droit du sol applies to children who are born in France to foreign parents.

Despite it often being described as an automatic right, there are in fact conditions attached, and the child only becomes French if they are their parents make the application.

When to apply

Children born in France must wait at least 13 years – those who have lived in the country for several years may get citizenship from age 13, with the permission of their parents, or they can apply on their own behalf from age 16.

READ ALSO French citizenship: What exactly is France’s ‘droit du sol’?

Conditions

As well as being born in France, to qualify for this route to citizenship, the child must:

  • live in France at the time of the application;
  • have been ordinarily resident in France for at least five years, if the applicant is aged 16 or over;
  • or, for applicants aged 13 to 16, have been ordinarily resident in France since the age of eight.

So basically it’s not enough to have been simply born in France, the child must have spent a significant part of their early life here too.

The process

For those who meet the criteria, the process is thankfully quicker and more straightforward than the one for adults. 

It involves gathering together a few documents and handing them in at your nearest tribunal judiciaire (you can find the one nearest you here).

A matter of weeks later, you will receive by post an invitation for both child and parents to attend an appointment to finalise the application. Once finalised, the child is considered French.

They are entitled to a French identity card and a French passport – but both of these must be applied for separately by either the child or their parents (depending on age), they’re not handed over as part of the citizenship application.

The documents

Like all French official processes, you will need a dossier of documents.

  • a certified copy of the child’s French birth certificate that is less than three months old. Get one of these by contacting the mairie office in the town where their birth was registered – you may even be able to apply online via the mairie website;
  • proof of address that’s less than three months old – a gas or electricity bill, for example (be aware a phone bill or a bank RIB is not considered proof of address);
  • for any applicant under the age of 16, a copy of their parents’ marriage certificate – and divorce certificates, if applicable. If the marriage/divorce certificates are not in French, you will need to provide certified translations
  • photocopies of the parents’ titres de sejour (front and back), or identity cards/ passports;
  • ID for the child, such as their passport;
  • a passport photograph of the child, with their name written clearly on the back;
  • passport photographs of the child’s parents, with their names written clearly on the back;
  • A recent certificate de scolarité confirming the child’s education in France for the previous six years. Schools can supply these.

Note, if the child applying for naturalisation has children of their own, birth certificates of their children will also be required. The reason for this is that they, too, will become French at the same time, if the application is accepted.

Children who have reached the age of 16 when they apply do not need to involve their parents in their application, if they meet the requirements. But they need to supply all other required documents.

What next

Once you have assembled the relevant documents, you can either post or take these documents to your nearest tribunal judiciaire. If you do hand them in personally, an official will check that they have everything they need, which could make the time spent making the trip worthwhile.

Then, it’s simply a case of waiting for the letter to arrive, and attending the appointment at the right time. 

Judicial authorities have six months to register the declaration, or refuse the application. 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 refused, you can contest it in the six months following the decision. You will need to hire a lawyer to do so. 

The appointment

When you are called to the appointment at your nearest tribunal judiciaire, you need to take the letter confirming the date and time of your rendezvous, plus photo ID for the child applying for nationality, and parents if the child is under the age of 16. Passports and / or cartes de séjour are ideal. Under normal circumstances, both parents are expected to attend.

In the first instance, the child will be taken into a private room and spoken to on their own, to confirm that they want to become French, before the parents are invited in to also confirm they are happy for their child to have French nationality, and fill in a couple of forms.

At this time, the child will also be asked if they would like to take a more ‘French-sounding’ first name, and if they would like to also keep or renounce their existing nationality. Both involve extra processes and – in most cases – both are optional.

Upon completion of the interview, you will be handed a small dossier of documents, including the all-important naturalisation document (which you must keep under pain of major future administrative issues), allowing you to apply for a national ID card on behalf of your child, and a passport.

READ ALSO The ultimate guide for how to get French citizenship

Over 18s

Anyone born in France to foreign parents, can apply for citizenship in their own right once they reach adulthood, if they meet the following conditions: 

  • live in France at the age of 18;
  • live in France regularly for a period of at least five years since the age of 11;
  • parents are not diplomatic agents or consulate staff.

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

But you still need to 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 et cetera).

READ ALSO Can you be stripped of French citizenship?

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