French Nationality

[henstooth]

Hi everyone - I wondered if anyone here has applied for French nationality and if so, how long it took? I have heard it can take many months (18 months+).

My husband and kids are French (I'm British) and we live in an EU country, which I would like to stay in post-Brexit.

I'm due to take the TCF French language exam next week and plan to submit my dossier to the French consulate, as soon as I receive the certificate (assuming I pass the test) but it would be good to get an idea about what happens next and how long the various steps take...

Many thanks

And congratulations on your result! I also found the speaking part hard. You don'the usually have to speak for so long unprepared in RL.

I’ve just got mine in Basse Normandie. Or at least in theory. I get my documents back tomorrow then there’s just the ceremony bit. Took about 18 months. It took from May to November for my dossier to be stamped as received. It’s not quick.

Like you French kids, husband etc. Word or warning your kids may have id cards and passports but they also need a paper from the Tribunal which caused an added delay and panic. Le certificat de nationalité française.

The regrouping of the regions has really caused additional delays. Success is apparently around 50% here. I had to appeal because of an error given by the Tribunal. I had to give three years of bilans for the 2 companies I run in addition to everything else. My dossier runs into 1000s of pages

Look at the paperwork list and work out which documents are going to expire fastest.

The TCF exam was fine.

The police interview was fine

The prefectural interview was trickier. I’m shit at history. I really prepared for it though. I could send you my crib notes if you want.

Nothing about it was harder than the sodding paperwork.

My understanding on the certificat de nationalité is there can only ever be one issued so you’d better not bloody loose it

Wally wobbles, I'm concerned now. There was nothing about my kids ID on the list I used. It asked for their birth certificates as proof of 'vie commune'. That was the only request for documents regarding kids.

Also there is nothing in the explanation of the whole procedure that mentions an interview with the police or a history test.
It says if the dossier is complete, we'Lloyd be summoned to the prefecture to sign a 'declaration de nationalité' and to swear that our material and emotional 'communauté de vie' has beene continuous since we got married.
That's all.

Sorry about the random Lloyd!

I just acquired French nationality through marriage - also living in another EU country so done through the consulate. It took about four months from the interview to get their confirmation that my application was approved - as soon as I had that they even rushed my application through so I could vote in the French elections. Birth certificate took a bit longer - another couple of months to be delivered I think.

I have friends in France who applied through the residency route and that definitely seemed to take longer than the marriage route. Overall, apart from the huge dossier I had to put together, it was pretty painless. In fact in the consulate they were really lovely and encouraging, and genuinely seemed pleased when it was approved.

Consulate may well be an easier route than doing it here.

May I join? I've been married to DH for 4 years so I can apply. We've been focusing on getting newborn DS his French birth certificate and then I'm planning to sit my French exam in London next spring.

Has anyone applied through the London consulate? How long did it take?

I was always keen to apply for my French nationality once I hit 4 years of marriage, brexit has meant that everyone keeps saying it's because of that, which is a bit annoying.

I’ve been here for 22 years. 2 French husbands, 2 kids born here. I am doing it because of Brexit. Don’t be offended it’s a sensible reason to want to do it.

Sent in my dossier this week, so now waiting for them to review if it’s complete. I need to brush up my history in case I get asked at the interview. I’ve printed a copy of the Livret du Citoyen - if anyone has any other tips that would be great. DH is terrible at remembering facts like birthdays etc. but wasn’t sure if they ask those sort of questions at the joint interview. Reminds me of the interview with the registrar before we got married!

My dossier was returned yesterday because they don't accept electronic timbre fiscal, they want a copy of my parents birth certificates and marriage certificates (these were not on the original list) and requesting a copy of my employment contract from when I first moved to France despite the fact that that this was included (and returned to me)! Very frustrating!

What a pain! Yes I included a copy of my parents' marriage certificate, as it mentioned if their date and place of birth wasn't included on our marriage certificate, then it would be needed but I didn't include their birth certificates, so am waiting to request those if I need to...

I have learnt when dealing with the French Administration to include more than asked for. For anyone still in the compiling phase I'd say find the most complete list you can on the internet and use it.

I was asked for further documents 3 times but happily the request came with an email address and phone number so much quicker to deal with. I also appealed the final decision based caused by an error from the tribunal.

Got there eventually. I now have all my certificates and applied for my passport and carte d'identité last week. Official ceremony still to come.

I got the list I used from an official national site and cross-checked it against the notes on the Cerfa form. My parents birth info is already provided in other elements of the dossier. Given that they asked for other documents that were already there, think it's just bad luck WRT the personne who checked my dossier.

I think you need to include their birth certificates in that case. The reason they need it (as far as I know) is to know your 'filiation' and they use this when they create a French birth certificate for you.

Hens I provided parents birth certificates and not a marriage certificate.

Hens I provided parents birth certificates and not a marriage certificate.

I hold dual French-British nationality and am trying to register my marriage in France to change my passport name plus register the birth of my children and get them French nationality (due to brexit). It is (supposedly) straightforward as I and my mother are French. They are also eligible for Irish nationality which would have been a much simpler process (born in NI) but I chose French as both my parents and my inlaws have homes in France and so the kids could have a French address to live at (for any required period for purposes of future applications to universities etc). I originally applied through my local (Dublin) consulate then after four months they decided they couldn't process it as I am in NI (despite having got my own passport there and it is where my mum gets all her paperwork done). They sent everything over to London and I had to fill out all the same forms again except formatted with the the GB consulate address instead of Ireland... sigh. Now 6 months in, I'm hoping they don't ask me for new copies of all the birth and marriage certificates (under the less than three months thing).

Update: I submitted my dossier before Christmas. We've now been called for an interview (DH also has to come) at the Consulate - we're in the EU but outside France.

Does anyone have any experience of this stage of the process? I presume they will ask us questions to check we're really married and maybe some questions about the Livret du Citoyen - is that right?

That sounds probable.

Interview done - I had to talk about my education and professional life, then how I met DH. They asked lots of questions about our integration into french life, hobbies, children, our future plans and whether I followed the news in France. I had prepared for questions on geography, history, culture etc. but didn't get asked any of that.

So in the end it was all straight forward, so hopefully I'll get positive news and my dossier will be sent off to the ministère de l'intérieur for the next phase.