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FRENCH CITIZENSHIP

France introduces new simplified process for citizenship

Foreigners living in France who want to apply for French citizenship can now access a simplified process with the opening of a new online portal. Here's how it works and who is eligible.

Published: 13 February 2023 10:27 CET
Updated: 18 February 2023 08:48 CET
France introduces new simplified process for citizenship
French President Emmanuel Macron attends a citizenship ceremony in 2017. Photo by Michel Euler / POOL / AFP

If you’re not French but would like to become French, the government has now launched a (slightly) simplified process for Naturalisation française par décret, with the opening of the NATALI online portal.

Who?

NATALI is an online service for submitting your citizenship application – and it’s important to stress that it doesn’t change the qualifications required for citizenship, only how you go about applying.

For foreigners living in France there are two main routes to citizenship; living in France for at least five years (or two years if you completed higher education in France) or marriage to a French citizen for at least four years.

You can find a full list of all the routes to citizenship (joining the French Foreign Legion, for example) HERE, plus a breakdown of all the paperwork you will need HERE. 

You cannot use the portal at present if you live in the French overseas départements of French Polynesia, French Guiana, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint-Martin-Saint-Barthélémy, New Caledonia or Wallis and Futuna.

You can find NATALI (no, we don’t know what it stands for) here.

What changes?

The new system is intended to streamline the application process by creating a single, nationwide portal where you can submit your citizenship application online.

Once the dossier is submitted, you will only need one in-person appointment – at your local préfecture where you go for the interview where you will be tested on your knowledge of France and French culture, to see if you are sufficiently integrated to become a citizen. Successful applicants will then be invited to an in-person naturalisation ceremony, which again is held at the local préfecture.

Philosophy, household chores and cheese – what you might be asked in your French citizenship exam

Just as before, it is your local préfecture that actually makes the decision on your application, the online portal is just a streamlined way to submit the dossier.

The portal also allows you to create an online account where you can track the process of your application, and where any requests for extra documents or more information will be sent.

When?

The portal went live on February 6th and now all new applications must be made in this way, according to the government’s public service site.

Previously some préfectures would accept applications online, while others demanded a paper dossier be submitted.

At the time of writing, most préfecture websites still contain instructions for the old system, but the government’s public service site says that: “All applications for naturalisation by decree must now be made electronically. Any paper application sent after February 6th, 2023 will be returned to the sender.”

What if I already made my application?

If you have already made an application and received a file number you do not need to make a new one.

Will this process be quicker?

On average getting citizenship takes between 18 months and two years from first submission of the dossier to being given the certificate of naturalisation, although it varies quite substantially between different préfectures.

No-one is promising that this system will be any quicker in delivering decisions, but it should be easier for applicants to use. 

Can I do any advanced preparation?

If you don’t yet qualify for citizenship, but intend to apply in the future, you can begin in advance with preparation of your dossier.

You can head to the French government’s naturalisation simulator HERE, which takes you through a list of questions about your personal circumstances, and then provides you with a downloadable list of documents that you will need in order to submit your dossier.

Some of them are basic and obvious like a passport, some you will need to get nearer the time like recent payslips or tax returns and others may require contact with authorities in your home country such as a recent copy of your birth certificate or a declaration that you have a clean criminal record.

You may also need to get some of your documents translated into French, using the services of a certified translator.

It’s also worth noting that unless you completed higher education in France, you will need a recent certificate of a French language exam to at least B1 level – full details HERE. 

QUIZ Is your French good enough for citizenship?

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For members

LIVING IN FRANCE

Why nearly 2 million addresses in France are set to change

Hundreds of thousands of home addresses across France are set to change due to a new law that is coming into force that means no more nameless roads in French villages.

Published: 6 May 2024 15:21 CEST
Why nearly 2 million addresses in France are set to change

Officials of villages in France with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants have until June 1st to fill out a government website with updated information about street names and house numbers, which includes naming roads that were previously nameless.

The changes are a result of the 3Ds law – so-called because it relates to Différenciation, Décentralisation, Déconcentration – which was adopted in 2022, and requires communes to allocate formal addresses to houses on the estimated 200,000 or so streets with no name.

Until this law, smaller communes had not been obliged to name individual roads, or number individual houses, giving rise to some interesting addresses – that are more like descriptions – in some hamlets.

From June 1st, however, ‘house with green door after the bakery by the church’ will no longer be acceptable as an address. Good news for property owners who have had trouble getting packages delivered.

How common are unnamed streets in France?

There are plenty. According to La Poste, there were about 1.8 million French households had no exact formal address at the end of 2023 – a figure that’s down from 3.5 million in 2017.

In all, it said, 20,000 of France’s 34,000 or so municipalities had at least one unnamed road. As recently as February, more than half of local authorities with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants still had to update their database.

Communes with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants had, until now, no obligation to name streets, or even squares. From June 1st, all roads must have a name; and all properties must be numbered. 

Most of the time, a lack of street name in a hamlet is unproblematic. Everyone knows everyone in smalltown France, and postal workers know their areas well. But, in emergency situations, for example, it can be an issue.

Under the 3Ds law, communes have to deliver their ‘local address database’ – which in turn populates a national database – by June 1st, 2024. This has been known about for a while, giving communes time to agree any new street names.

What does it mean for people living in these areas?

There’s a bit of admin work coming your way, if you live in a currently unnumbered house on one of the currently unnamed streets.

Once your street has a name and your house a number, you will have to tell any employers, utility suppliers, telephone operators et cetera that your address has been updated. You may also have to update any ID cards or residency permits. How and when you do this is up to you.

But I like my ‘lieu-dit’ address!

It’s okay. There was some early confusion for some mayors, but lieu-dit – which simply means locality – addresses are fine. The rule of thumb is if emergency services can find it quickly and easily, an address is good. 

In future, rather than your address being “Lieu-dit Les Essarts”, the address will change to “[house number and street name], Lieu-dit Les Essarts”.

Do I have a say in my street’s name and house number, then?

No. That would be a local authority matter. But you could end up with an unexpected property number, depending on where you live. This is because the database is intended to help emergency services and delivery companies find a particular address easily.

If you live in splendid isolation in the only house on a one-lane road that’s a kilometre after the crossroads, you may find your house is number 1,000 – because your property is 1,000m up the road.

This is going to get expensive, isn’t it?

It won’t be as pricey as first feared. Under original plans, local authorities were obliged to pay for street signs and house numbers, but the house number requirement has been dropped, and it’s up to local mairies to decide how many street signs are necessary.

However, if you want to arrange a house number for yourself, be aware that the mairie can dictate what it looks like, so that all properties remain in keeping with the village’s rural aesthetic. 

READ MORE: How to get planning permission for your French property

Who can access the database?

Anyone. The database is in open data format. Public and private entities will use it to find your property to deliver goods and services – everything from parcels and letters, to connecting properties to the fibre network, and getting to you in an emergency.

The data available is limited to house number, street name and commune. No other information will be available, or required, as this law refers only to the location of a building.

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