Adult children of French parent getting a French passport..?

[HBGKC]

I've been trying and failing to understand the French gov website on this topic, so am trying the wise people of MN...

DH has a completely French mother, so as recently applied for and been given a French passport (as he is French par filiation). He's never lived there (born and brought up in UK).

Now our 18 year old (and tbh all our younger children should too) wants to get her own French passport. Can she? She's the child of a French passport-holder; does anyone know anything about the process she'd have to go through, and how long/difficult/expensive it is..?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Possibly you haven't found the info because you're looking at passports rather than nationality and the French are far less passport orientated than the British because of ID cards. If I understand correctly, your husband has applied for a passport but in fact has always been French? The passport is a red herring, I think, and your children are also French already. Had he been considered to have acquired French nationality, it'd be different, but I don't see how this could be the case.
It's easy (relatively) for your children under 18, your husband applies for them. For your eldest, I think she's going to need a certificat de nationalité française, and I have only ever done that in France, at the tribunal d'instance, and it's a bit of a pain because you have to have all of the recent birth certificates.
This link is helpful. https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F35695/1_1_2?idFicheParent=F18713#1_1_2
Good luck, French admin is a pain.

No, your husband’s children cannot get French passports (or be considered French nationals) as it goes down the maternal, not paternal, line. We have the same situation, DH has a French mother so is considered a French national (to the extent of being called up for National Service) but our kids cannot get French passports. Luckily they are already nationals of another EU country through me so currently have Australian and EU passports and could get British if they wante but tbh a British passport is pretty useless compared to others these days,

Thank you both for replying.

DH's mother is French, and he was on her livre de famille. He has now been given a French passport.

DD 18 wants the French passport (if poss) to make travelling around Europe easier post-Brexit.

Can it really be the case that you're French if your mother is French, but not French if your father's French..?!? Seems insane, but with French bureaucracy I could believe it!

Service-publique.Fr says:

"A child is French by birth , that is to say by filiation
: Legal relationship between a child and his father and/or mother
: Legal relationship between a child and his father and/or mother
, if at least one of his parents is French ."
My feeling is that it's possible, as her father was always French by birth (even tho he only recently applied for and received a French passport).

But yes, would have been easier to do before she turned 18 🙄 and we should deffo get on with it for the younger children!

Did your DH have an extrait de naissance from France? Was he declared to the French consulate at birth? And who put him on the livret de famille?

As long as he was considered French by the French before your DD turned 18 then she will qualify.

Can it really be the case that you're French if your mother is French, but not French if your father's French..?!? Seems insane, but with French bureaucracy I could believe it!

Until they were taken to court very recently and had to change it retroactively, German citizen was only granted to those with German fathers for the post-war generation.

This isn’t true. It’s either parent.

I don't know the answers to any of those, sorry! But he was definitely added to the livret de famille as a child (his parents moved permanently to England before his birth).

Yes, it seems to be the case that either parent will do - phew! I guess this bummer we'll go to the town hall with all the possibly helpful documents in our possession, and proceed from there.

*this SUMMER!

Do you live in France or in the UK? Were you married at the time of the child's birth and if so did you register your marriage with the French embassy? If not you may have to get all that paperwork sorted first. That's assuming you got married outside of France anyway. It would give you the livery de famille. uk.ambafrance.org/Se-marier-au-Royaume-Uni

Then you can apply for the French birth certificate: https://uk.ambafrance.org/IMG/pdf/tran--listemajeurr2022-3.pdf?12169/47dd3e3d6465b65d8bc30a57a008ed3d85c45b6b

From then you can probably go on to get all the documents required for the passport: uk.ambafrance.org/Vous-avez-besoin-d-un-nouveau-passeport

You don’t need to be married for your DC to get French nationality. But the livret de famille would be useful if your children ever want to live or study in France, you still don’t need to be married. Your DH will need to go with all the birth certificates and his passport to the consulate and register the children as French. He can ask them to issue him a livret at that point.

Sorry I wasn't suggesting that you had to be married, just on the form to get the birth certificate it mentions the livret de famille/marriage certificate if parents were married at the time of birth (although I notice you can also submit legalised translated copies of the marriage certificate but getting all the paperwork in order in the first place might just be easier for in the future). There's just different requirements if the parents depending on the marriage situation at the time of birth.

You can have a livret de famille even if you aren't married. I would think that you don't have this, because it'd be a massive faff to get one and you'd have to think to do it, so you'd know if you'd done it.
@Flatandhappy you're really wrongly informed, I have this exact situation in my family and my family members are French through their dad, their mum is not French and they were not born in France and the parents are not married.
Doesn't sound like your kids missed out on anything, but it's not the case that it goes down the maternal line.
@HBGKC it's livret not livre, just to help with your googling. It's like a little booklet rather than a book. Your husband could get one, from the consulate, with your wedding certificate and they add in the children I think (I'm not sure about that last bit, because my kids were born in France, so it's automatic). You might have to register everything in Nantes. All this is a lot of fun as I'm sure you can imagine. France is actually very non sexist when it comes to things like this these days. They are also far, far more generous with their nationality than the UK, who would not pass British nationality on to grandchildren of nationals not born in Britain:

We are married (not in France tho, so only have a British marriage certificate).

To (try to) be clear: the only claim that DD18 has to a French passport is the fact that her father is French par filiation on his mother's side.

He/we have never lived there, were not married there, DD was not born there.

DH was on his mother's livret de famille, we deffo don't have one of our own (as you say - I'd know about it!)

Do you mean the French consulate in London?

Yes in London.

Our DC were born in the UK, though we live in France now. DH went along to the consulate with the birth certificates, not even translations, and had them put on the register and in the livret de famille.

Ooh thank you, that actually sounds doable!

But sounds like you already had a livret de famille? Or could they issue us one of those there too?

DH got the livret de famille when he went to register DC1, and he registered our marriage with them at the same time. So from the consulate.

You get the livret de famille from the consulate, with your wedding certificate and then you are supposed to register your marriage in Nantes, which is where overseas stuff is registered, and then they send you another marriage certificate I think. Then they change your French birth certificate if you are French, which is genuinely weird.

I think you are thinking that your husband is French by filiation on his mother's side. But you are not thinking about it in the French way. The French would say: your husband is French. (then they'd probably silently judge his French if it's less than perfect)

Thanks everyone, I feel clearer and more confident about the way forward now.

And yes, @puttingontheritz, I think you're bang on with this:

'you are not thinking about it in the French way. The French would say: your husband is French. (then they'd probably silently judge his French if it's less than perfect.'!!

Hi, I received my first French passport last year, it did take five years from start to finish. I don’t think my mother understood the procedure and she went through a lawyer and things were very slow. It took about three years to get the nationality certificate, which I needed and then had to send my birth certificate to be registered in Nantes. Once I had my friends birth certificate, I could apply for a French passport. It was one year today that I went to the French embassy and was able to finally apply, I was missing documents previously and there is a lot of bureaucracy and hassle, but it’s worth the wait.

One thing I would suggest, be prepared for some challenges at the consulate in London. I ended up making an appointment for a passport in Athens, where I spent quite a lot of time anyway, and they were able to do the passport. They were much more friendly and helpful than the consulate in London. Like your son, I have never lived in France and I speak a number of languages, but French is not my best. I also am visually impaired. The consulate was so focused on why was I alone, why wasn’t someone with me, they were extremely condescending and when I told him I wasn’t able to understand all of the French because I haven’t lived in France, the woman’s reply was well you’re French so you need to speak French. I left in tears and met someone else coming out of the consulate , who told me that the person spoke English to her son who was in the same position as I was with regards to the language.

Hi - if your husband has French nationality, passport and a livert de famille then yes he can pass on to kids. If they are under 18 it’s one form fairly easy. But…you’ll need marriage registered by consulate so that’s another step beforehand. This type id say 6 mths ish. No need to actually visit consulate. If they are over 18 then it’s a longer process - proving ancestry etc. I went through it (mother is French) and it about took 2 yrs all in and a lot of docs including my grandmothers grandmother marriage etc.. I have family in France who did it for me but from the UK if you don’t speak language v difficult also I was a very clear cut case - my grandmother never took UK nationality so she’s 100% no questions French. If u don’t have family in France I’d hire an expert - french bureaucray is way more than English and mostly paper. Very specific and lots of confirmations. Also UK forms need to get officially translated into French. I suspect they do this so people don’t take the mick - u have to really want it to jump through the hoops. Good luck 🤞

I hold a french Nationality my wife an Indian Passport but my son got a french passport he is 17. I did speak to the french a lady in french consulate regarding my french nationality paper for my son after 18, she said he doesn't need one as he already has a french passport and everything there in the system to prove.