My girlfriend and I find ourselves in a rather unusual spot, and I’d truly appreciate some guidance, especially because my French isn’t perfect and she’s going through a tough time right now.
Here’s the background:
She was born in France, lived there until about age 4, and later moved back.
Although her parents spent roughly 20 years working in France, she never obtained French citizenship as a child.
She has been back in France since 2021, just completed her bachelor’s degree, and filed a naturalization request last year.
She followed the standard naturalization track because, as far as we could tell, her early childhood residence and her parents’ work history didn’t qualify her for any special fast-track status (please let me know if we misunderstood).
Given France’s new immigration law, I’m worried that she could face extra hurdles—like needing an additional two years of employment—before securing citizenship. We’re not sure which provisions might apply to her.
I live in Germany and want to support her as best I can. What do you think about her situation, and what steps would you recommend?
The best place to ask these sorts of questions is, I think, the dedicated private Facebook group which was set up for exactly this sort of purpose. There are people on there with detailed knowledge of the processes involved. That isn’t to say someone on here can’t, of course, but that could be your easiest source of advice.
She didn’t happen to be in France on her 18th birthday did she? And can prove it?
If her parents are not French, but she was born here she can claim nationality as she turned adult ( ie 18).
Otherwise she has to go via décret. But if she returned in 2021 then she doesn’t have the 5 years’ residence so what criteria did she apply under last year? The shortened residence requirement is for Masters M2 degrees, not bachelors.
She will have had the 5 years residence next year, but as things stand little point applying again unless she meets the new employment/income criteria. This is all very new so may settle down in the months to come and I’m not an immigration agent but it seems that her chances are minuscule.
I would wait to see what happens to her existing application. I think it very likely it will be adjourned. And in which case waiting until have fixed problem will most likely be faster than appealing.
So my advice is to do nothing!
(And just try to forget about it as you can’t influence her existing application now, so don’t waste energy but go and have fun instead)
It doesn’t really help as has not been adapted to match what people are experiencing in terms of length of work experience and foreign sourced income. It merely flags the civic exam that comes in next year.
Yes in general, but the OP wasn’t scholarised here and left age 4 without nationality. Others in that position have had to prove residence at age 18 pile.
I commented because I have a friend who applied for and received French nationality despite never having been to school here, lived here etc etc. No requirement to prove residence at age 18. It took a while but he got it.