Thanks Andrew! Appreciate the feedback. Hopefully mine will be quicker…
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Is there an exam on French history or culture as part of the naturalization process? It’s so vast and complicated…yikes!
If you are over 60 no exam needed, but an interview in French at the prefecture. I have ordered the relevant certificates from UK gov. Parents birth,daughters and parents death,then all have to be translated. Three years French tax returns, no mention of house deeds will keep you posted.
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In my experience as a certified translator here in France, it depends very much on the prefecture dealing with your application. As the date and place of your parents’ marriage don’t appear on a death certificate, some prefectures refuse to accept them. So the answer is that it’s best to check.
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it depends very much on the prefecture dealing with your application. As the date and place of your parents’ marriage don’t appear on a death certificate, some prefectures refuse to accept them.
Many thanks for the information,Hilary. I appreciate your help.
You’re welcome.
Kind regards
Hilary
It is complicated (I’m french) : if she win the election (I think it is possible), I don’t think that she can have “Assemblée Nationale” with her. So we’ll have a cohabitation : Assemblée can decide of a new law but the law have to be promulgue by the President. And Marine Le Pen can’t choose her prime minister if the assemblée disagree. Marine Le Pen can nt decide alone and I don’t think she win legislative elections.
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From documents I have translated for people applying for French nationality, you need to provide your own birth certificate, plus any marriage certificates, including previous marriages, plus proof of how previous marriages ended (decrees absolute, death certificates).
Each applicant also needs to provide copies of their parents’ birth and marriage certificates (apparently some préfectures accept parents’ death certificates instead but others don’t as they don’t show the spouse’s date and place of birth and the date and place of marriage).
If you have been here less than 10 years, you need a police check, also translatedand if your proof of income is in another language tbis will also need to be translated.
All of these require a certified translation.
Hope this helps.
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Hi Catharine
We are in the process of going through this and our official translator has given us these two pieces of information which may assist others:
.1. Parents’ marriage certificate will suffice.
- Birth certificates of ALL children are needed (regardless of age), it is something to do the rights of children of French parents and inheritance issues.
Hope this helps rather than muddies the waters of an already complicated procedure.
Carolyn
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For the “over 60” group: So no official certificate for French language proficiency is needed; but an interview at the Prefecture presumably to determine French level. But are their questions on French history and culture? Not real clear about this.
Does anybody have first-hand knowledge about this? Or perhaps someone they know who’s gone through this?
Thanks!
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Very good Catharine and timely advice:
With the attitude of the UK government towards ex-pats French nationality claim is no bad thing. By attitude I mean disenfranchisement, refusing a vote on the incredibly important (to ex-pats anyway) leave or remain referendum and that despicable IDS even going to the lengths of altering the meteorological definition of winter so that he could refuse Winter Fuel Allowance to ex-pats. The UK government can only be trusted to use ex-pats as a bargaining pawn and no more.
A word of warning to would be nationality applicants - do NOT let the French functionnaires keep your original documents that they demand (they will unless you insist on their return up front). You will almost certainly need them later and the administration will refuse to accept copies, even official ones…
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Because of inheritance law and patrimony passing to children as per the code civil.
I purchased the necessary birth and marriage certificates from the UK about three months ago for myself and my parents. When I looked at the French government site then, it didn’t say anything about birth certificates for adult children. Are you all sure about this? I would never hand over original birth certificates, only the re-issued ones from the UK. My adult children were born in Kenya. There’s no way I can get Kenyan government certifed copies as I can with the UK government ones.
Second point - when I checked the requirements before, the forms one has to fill in require all past employment and all past addresses. Does anyone know how detailed this has to be? I am 73 and have lived and worked in 7 countries. I cannot remember most of the addresses nor the details of my past employers.
Point 3 - I had my marriage certificate, divorce certificate and change of name all translated by the official translator of the French Embassy in Johannesburg in 1996. Will these translations be accepted, or will I have to have them done all over again? Also, I already have a Fiche Familiate d’Etat Civil from 1996. I’ve had a house here (the same one) since Feb 1983.
Catherine, your paragraph above runs on after your colon, so I am not sure what you mean. If I have lived here for more than ten years, do I still have to produce "Tax returns for the last three years and last but not least, a “bordereau de situation fiscale, modèle P. 237, daté de moins de 3 mois portant sur les 3 dernières années accompagné des bulletins de salaire de novembre et décembre correspondant à ces 3 années. Ce document est délivré par la direction des finances publiques dont vous dépendez sur présentation des avis d’imposition”.?
just read Catherines piece on nationality, I am doing this, and have
just received my exam certificate, taaaa dahhh!!
I am fairly sure that the French government need translated documents,
and that the birth death etc cant be originals, as they need a date of
less than three months old.
I think this means you have to apply to the UK for certified copies (
with today’s date ), then send these to a translator, then send the
translations and the copies from hm gov to the French gov, before the 3
months has expired.
for the test at the prefecture, you can go here
and download the citizens booklet. Itdoesnt look too taxing, basically just know about Napoleon, Moliere, and de Gaulle. They seem to have missed out the bit about the war in Algeria, which means there is less history to learn!
Bits about how the country is organised into regions, departments and communes etc.
I have also quizzed the Uk gov helpline about getting documents, as I may need birth cert of ex wife, and dont really want to call her up and ask for any favours. Evidently, you can get anyones birth marraiage, death cert as long as you know
place of birth
date of birth
mothers maiden name
I checked my understanding by asking the nice lady if I could get a copy of Nigel Farrages birth cert. She replied yes as long as I knew all that stuff. Amazing!!
Cheers!!
@phillipcox You are an entitled resident of France -
having lived in France for more than 5 years
Having legally married a French National
Having worked in France and paid cotisations
Your healthcare insurance is a requirement to live here
Having a French Pension
Having an English pension paid to you in France
(And spent in France)
You pay French taxes (we all do!) but - taxe foncière?
You are according to the above entitled to
A permanent Carte de Séjour (if you don’t already have one)
This should guarantee your rights of residency and access to all services open to French Citizens
It is not necessary for you to ask for French Nationality
But you do need a carte de sejour permanente.
Make an appointment with the Prefecture for your Department and arrange to provide the necessary documentation as soon as possible (in our department, Finistere, appointments take around 4 to 6 months for la carte de séjour permanente)
In this case, you won’t lose your British Citizenship. You still won’t be able to vote in French National elections but you can already vote in the local and European ones. Whether or not we will be able to vote in European elections after Brexit is another question. Who on earth made Nigel Farage a Euro \MP I have no idea, but I think the process was if anything easier than becoming an MP in Britain!
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for info : some départements are refusing to process carte de séjour applications from Brits untill the Brexit/EU situation is clear. I had a long “exchange” with the person dealing at my préfecture (Albi) who made it quite clear that even if I applied, they simply wouldn’t process the application 