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France sees 254 percent jump in Brits seeking French citizenship since Brexit

There are a lots of Brits who aren't waiting to find out how Britain's plans to leave the EU pan out before getting their French citizenship sorted, with a massive rise of 254 percent in requests.

Published: 20 June 2017 10:45 CEST
France sees 254 percent jump in Brits seeking French citizenship since Brexit
Photo: AFP
Formal Brexit discussions have just got underway but there are a lot of British people in France who aren't waiting to see if the politicians come up with a good deal before claiming French citizenship.
 
Understandably concerned about what the future holds for their status in France as Britain's plans to leave the European Union move forward, the number of British people requesting French citizenship has shot up up from 385 in 2015 to a whopping 1,363 in 2016, French newspaper Le Monde has reported, according to information from France's Interior Ministry.
 
This represents an overwhelming increase of 254 percent in requests. 
 
READ ALSO: 
Photo: AFP
 
Although that figure may be small compared to the total number of Brits living in France – believed to be between 150,000 and 200,000 the figures show that fears about the future are rising among France's British population. 
 
 
And this is without taking into account the figures from January 2017, which have not yet been released by the Interior Ministry.
 
The rise will probably come as no surprise to many given that many Brits had vowed to seek French nationality if Brexit was voted through.
 
“My kids were all born in France and have lived here all their lives,” reader Nick Wood told The Local previously. “I cannot risk them getting booted out of the only home they know just because they are British citizens and Britain is no longer part of the EU.”
 
And it seems like this attitude will prevail, with estimates from several French prefectures indicating that the number of requests is still on the rise. 
 
The prefecture of the department of Ille-et-Vilaine in Brittany in the north west of the country, which takes care of the requests for naturalisation for the four Breton departments, recorded, “a very big increase in the number of requests at the beginning of the year.”
 
In just five months, the prefecture received 110 ten applications, compared to 50 between July and December in 2016. Before 2016, just 10 to 20 files were handled each year. 
 
And at the prefecture in the department of Deux-Sèvres, responsible for the citizenship requests in the former region of Poitou-Charentes on the French Atlantic coast, the same trend is evident. 
 
Since the beginning of 2017, Deux-Sèvres has received 62 files compared to 16 in the first six months of 2016.
 
The requests are mostly coming from the older population, the Ille-et-Vilaine reported. 
 
British Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Brexit Minister) David Davis (left) with the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier (right). Photo: AFP
 
“In meetings, they say that it's Brexit that has led them to request French nationality, as a result of serious concerns they have over the possibility of staying in France because of the negotiations,” the prefecture told Le Monde. 
 
It typically takes a year and a half to  go through the process of gaining French citizenship. As a result, there has not been much of a rise in the number of Brits being naturalised between 2015 and 2016, with the figure increasing from 320 to 439. 
 
The French ministry of the interior told Le Monde: “The requests will be subject to review from the naturalisation services, not all candidates are certain of receiving French nationality.”
 
But while the path to French citizenship may be an arduous and red tape-strewn one, we do have some advice from people who have been through it all before.  
 
It's crucial to source information about the right documents to provide from the right place, and that's from your local prefecture, says Christine Biardeau, a 29-year-old in Toulouse who runs a Facebook group to help local Brits to get French nationality. 
 
“Ask the prefecture to send you the list and have everything they ask for on the list. I got lists from the government site and the prefecture site and they were different to the one the lady had at the prefecture,” she tells The Local. 
 
She adds that sometimes it's worth bypassing the websites altogether. 
 
“I couldn't get a meeting through the site and it was driving me mad, so I sent a lengthy email explaining why I needed French nationality (in French) to which they replied by calling me and getting me an urgent appointment,” she said. 

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LIVING IN FRANCE

5 things Brits in France need to know about swapping driving licences

Now that the dust has settled from the somewhat chaotic post-Brexit period, the system for swapping a UK driving licence for a French one seems to be running fairly smoothly. There are, however, some things that UK licence holders need to know.

Published: 3 May 2024 17:20 CEST
5 things Brits in France need to know about swapping driving licences

This article is aimed at holders of a UK or Northern Ireland driving licence who are living in France – tourists, visitors and second-home owners can continue to drive in France on a UK licence and do not need an international driving permit.

British students who are studying in France on a student visa can continue to drive on their UK licence during their studies – if however they settle in France afterwards, they need to follow the below process for swapping their licence. 

1 You’re special

Well, maybe special is over-stating it, but the system for holders of UK and NI licence holders is different to that of other non-EU nationals, and also different to the system for EU licence holders.

The reason for this is that a pragmatic post-Brexit agreement was (finally) reached between France and the UK, in order to avoid the chaos that was triggered when thousands of Brits in France all tried to swap their driving licences at once.

Unlike almost all other post-Brexit agreements, this one applies both to people who moved to France before the end of Brexit transition period in 2021 and those who have moved here since. 

The below terms apply to everyone who has a UK or NI licence, regardless of their nationality or when they moved to France. 

2 But you still have to swap

It was technically always the case that Brits who were living in France should have swapped their licence for a French one, just as other EU licence holders do now, but in reality many people lived here for years or decades without ever exchanging their licence and there was little or no enforcement of the rule.

That has now changed and you must swap according to the following timetable;

If your UK licence was issued after January 1st, 2021 – you must swap within one year of moving to France.

If your UK licence was issued before January 1st 2021 – you only swap when you meet one of the following conditions;

  • The licence itself or the photocard is within six months of its expiry date. For more people the photocard expiry will come around first, but UK licences also require renewal when the holder reaches the age of 70
  • Your licence has been lost or stolen
  • You have been ordered to exchange your licence by a gendarme after committing a driving offence

For people who are exchanging because the licence is about to expire, it is important that you don’t start the process until your licence is within six months of the expiry date – early applications will simply be rejected.

3 It might not be as much of a nightmare as you think 

Unlike the old days when licence swaps were done by préfectures, the whole process has now moved online and is run through a single, central system.

The online portal for requesting a swap is known as ANTS and you can find it HERE.

If you haven’t used it before you will need to create an online account, or if you already have online accounts for French government services such as Ameli or tax declarations you can login by clicking on the France Connect button.

Once logged in, select Je demande l’échange ou l’enregistrement de mon permis de conduire étranger (I request the exchange or registration of a foreign driving licence) and fill in the details requested on the form such as name, address etc.

You might be pleasantly surprised by the fact the form itself is relatively straightforward (as French admin forms go), asking basic questions such as your personal details and the details of your driving licence.

You will have to upload supporting documents, but these are likely to be things that you already have to hand including

  • Proof of ID (passport or carte de séjour)
  • Proof of address (a recent utility bill or attestation from your utility provider)
  • If your driver’s licence is in a different name to your passport, you will need to supply your full birth certificate

You will also need to supply a photo – you can either use the internet-enabled Photomaton booths – find your nearest here – to create a digital photo with the required security code, or you can use the normal photo booths to print out a physical photo and send it by post after you have made your application. 

Once completed, you can use the ANTS site to track the progress of your application and upload any other documents that are requested.

4 But don’t leave it too late 

If you’re applying because your licence is about to expire then you cannot apply until you are within six months of the expiry date.

But it’s a good idea not to leave it until the last minute as the whole process does take time – things have improved massively since the dark days of 2020 and 2021 when people were waiting for years and their licences expired while they waited.

But it still takes time – the current average for a straightforward application with no extra documents required seems to be between four and five months, although processing times can vary, especially over holiday periods.

It’s therefore a good idea to make the application fairly soon after you enter that magic six-month window.

Once you make the application you should get an automated response acknowledging receipt – this is usually sent by SMS and/or email, it’s a good idea to check your spam folder if you don’t get the email.

Don’t panic if you don’t then hear anything for the next few weeks or even months, this appears to be normal. If your application is complete and there are no outstanding queries or other documents required, the next step will be a request to send in your old UK licence.

You send this by post (recorded delivery with a signature is strongly recommended) and at the same time you can download an Attestation de Depot de Permis de Conduire (certificate of deposit of driving licence) – you can use this to prove your continued entitled to drive in the period between sending in your old licence and receiving your new one.

Your French licence is then sent by registered post, and the window between posting the old licence and receiving the new one is usually not more than a month, you 

5 Help is out there 

If your application runs into problems or you have an untypical situation or find the ANTS website hard to use, don’t panic – help is available.

The Facebook group Driving in France – French Licence Applications is a good place to start with comprehensive guides and knowledgeable admins who are quick to respond to questions.

You can also chat to others in your situation and get updates on how long processing times seem to be.

If you have problems using the online system, your local France Services office may be able to help.

You can also head to The Local’s reader questions section, or email us at [email protected] if you have questions.

Digital licences

You might have heard about France’s new digital driving licence – unfortunately this is only available to people who have French citizenship (including dual nationals).

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