Transcript

Today's topic is French nationality and, above all, how to obtain it, how to become French.

A few of you have asked me in comments how to obtain French nationality. So I decided to make a video on this topic because, of course, it's an interesting topic, and it's a great way to learn more about France and how the country works, but it's also an opportunity to learn new vocabulary.

🚀 You want to save time and make faster progress?

My course will transform your understanding of fast French 🇫🇷

🎧 60 authentic conversations

📝 +1,300 words and phrases 

📊 300 comprehension questions

📖 60 transcriptions 

⭐️ 30 everyday themes

👩🏻‍💻 30 minutes of conversation with me 

🗣️ Conversation tables

All my vocabulary cards

🇫🇷 Discover the course

Before you start, don't forget to support the video by placing a "like" or subscribing if you haven't already done so.

There are four ways to become French, four different ways.

By blood, by droit du sol, by marriage and by naturalization. There is also another way of obtaining French nationality, but it's a fairly uncommon one.

You can get French nationality if you do a heroic act, if you are considered a hero by France, I will tell you about it at the end of the video.

I'm going to explain these different means and the different rules around them. But obviously, I'm not a legal expert, I'm not a lawyer.

So I'm going to give you an outline of how to become a French citizen. If you'd like more detailed information, please don't hesitate to contact a jurist, a lawyer or other associations, who will certainly be able to provide you with more detailed information.

I shot this video at the end of April 2022. Obviously, laws can change, so you need to take that into account too.

In the description, I will also put you official sources so that you have all the information you need and especially all the details you need.

And it's also thanks to these sources that I made this video, that I wrote the content of this video. To begin with, I wanted to show you a graph showing the origins of the people who have most recently obtained French nationality.

This is a chart from 2018. So you can see the top two countries of origin of people who have obtained French nationality are Morocco and Algeria.

Then we have Tunisia and Turkey. These are people who had another nationality and who became French. So who can be French?

The first, and simplest, way is by blood right. In other words, one of your parents must be French, or already have French nationality. For example, I'm Belgian, but Mathieu, my future husband, is French.

This means that our children can have French nationality, even if, for example, we move to Belgium and they are born in Belgium. As Mathieu is French, and one of his parents is French, they will be able to have French nationality.

That's very simple, via blood. The second way to be French, to have French nationality, is through droit du sol. If you read what droit du sol means on Wikipedia, it's a rule that allows French nationality to be granted to someone born in France.

Thanks to the fact that he or she was born on French territory, he or she can have access to French nationality. In practical terms, how can I obtain French nationality through "droit du sol"?

If one of your parents is French and you're born in France, you're automatically a French citizen from birth. If both your parents are foreign but you were born in France, you can apply for and obtain French nationality when you turn 18.

You can also get it as soon as you turn thirteen, if your parents request it. If you were not born in France, but have lived in France since you were six years old, have received all your schooling in France, and one of your siblings has already obtained French nationality, you can also obtain French nationality when you turn 18.

The third way to become French is through marriage. When you marry a French man or woman, you too can obtain French nationality under certain conditions.

Today, the conditions are as follows.

Firstly, the person you're marrying must be a French citizen, which is logical. The second condition is that you must have been married to this person for more than four years.

You must never have been sentenced to more than six months in prison, and you must speak at least some French. This means you must have at least a B2 level. As for obtaining French nationality through marriage, you should know that the rules are getting stricter and stricter, because the government is fighting against what are known as sham marriages.

What we call a "white marriage" is a false marriage. It's a marriage organized for the very purpose of obtaining French nationality. So that a foreigner can obtain French nationality. So the government is very careful about this and tries to spot these sham marriages.

Let's talk about naturalization. If you don't have a French parent, if you weren't born in France, if you're not married to a French citizen, this is the last way for you to obtain French nationality and become a French citizen.

Naturalization is a little more complicated. There are a lot of documents to provide and, above all, there are a lot of conditions to fulfill. There are many criteria to be naturalized French.

Obviously, there are special cases, but I'm going to give you an outline of these criteria. I'll give you the general criteria. And as I said at the beginning of the video, if you have any special cases, if you want more precise information, don't hesitate to go to the government website or to contact a lawyer or an association.

So, when you want to obtain French nationality, you have to file an application. The first criterion is that you must be at least 18 years old. You must, of course, be living in France at the time of application.

You must also have lived in France for at least five years. You must have a special link with France, for example, serious family ties.

You must also have a job that allows you to support yourself. As for naturalization via marriage, you must be able to prove that you have a fairly satisfactory level of French, a B2 level.

You'll also have to prove that you've assimilated into French culture, which means you'll have some knowledge of history and culture. To make sure you've fully integrated into France, we'll ask you to take part in an assimilation interview, where we'll ask you questions about France.

For example, we'll ask you to name French rivers. We'll ask you what democracy means to you. We'll ask you to explain, for example, how institutions work in France, or to name French departments.

And finally, as with marriage, you must never have been sentenced in France to a prison term of more than six months without a suspended sentence. That's a lot of things, the list is quite long.

There are a few exceptions to this five-year residency requirement, for example if you have refugee status, if you did your military service in France, if you come from a French-speaking country and speak French fluently, and if you have a degree from an institution of higher education where you studied for at least two years.

You can render or have rendered important services to France, or have accomplished an exceptional path to integration, for example by having done or accomplished very important work in the fields of science, economics, culture or sport.

Some people have also been granted French nationality for heroic deeds. They've done extraordinary things. When you do a brave deed, there's a very rapid express procedure that can be set in motion so that you can obtain French nationality very quickly.

It's a kind of gift from the state. In the description, I've included a link to a more detailed description of this type of naturalization.

Here's a short clip, I don't know if you've already seen it.

The man's name is Mamadou Gassama. He is of Malian origin, from Mali. In May 2008, he saved this child. I don't know if you saw the video correctly, but he was hanging from the balcony, from the railing of the balcony, and he climbed the building to save this child.

We really talked about it a lot at the time, and President Emmanuel Macron gave him French nationality to thank him for this act of bravery, because he was very courageous.

Of course, these cases of naturalization are very rare, but they can exist like Mamadou.

That's it for today, I hope you've enjoyed this video, that you've been able to learn a few things about how France works, the different ways of being French or becoming French, and that you've also been able to learn some new vocabulary thanks to this theme.

If you liked the video, don't forget to put a "like" and, above all, subscribe and activate the bell to see all my videos.

See you soon!