French Citizenship: The Interview & what to expect

[Okkitokkiunga]

I live in England but am applying for French citizenship through my French DH. DC's have dual nationality.

We've sent everything off and now just have to wait and see. I am wondering what sort of thing they will ask at interview. (I know it's not a foregone conclusion my application will be approved). Thanks.

Presume you speak French? The requirement is B1 minimum. I'd say it has to be higher though. From what I know, you sit exams which include oral (more like a debate on random subjects) and listening tests as well as written and then have an interview if you pass it. Depends on the functionnaire you get but the main thing they want to know in interview is why you want to be French and then they delve further. So if you say because I like the cheese for example expect to be quizzed in depth about your knowledge of the 1000 or so cheeses.

Yes to speaking French. I have a degree which is meant to be C1, however my written French is no where near the level of my spoken as don't think I've written a word in French since finishing degree. Best get on with some revision then.

If they accept your degree (which they might) then you would skip the language exam. The interview was pretty informal, discussions on how integrated we were and what we understood about the French system - in particular laïcité.

I have no idea about the rules for citizenship through marriage though as we got ours by decree.

French thanks. I have assumed that laïcité would be one of the topics covered. Ugh. I probably need to moderate my opinion.

When I did mine I was on the local council and we had just voted a large sum to repair the church roof - so I ended up going on about how the church and state were separate, but that the state actually owned the churches. I still got in though.

I think that, if your DCs are French nationals, you can legitimately defend your wish to be French by saying that you want the whole family to fully share the same culture(s),