French citizenship - what do I need to know?
I've been married to a French citizen for 6 years, which means I can apply for French citizenship. We've obtained a livre de famille, as well as a French birth certificate for my son (we are pursuing citizenship for him too) and had our marriage recognized in France, all of which included some goofy bureaucratic hoops for internationally notarizing our marriage and birth certificates (the apostille).
From here, it seems like a relatively straightforward process for me to apply for citizenship (compile my file, take the language test - I'm decently conversational in French, complete an interview), which is hard for me to wrap my head around given the massive process that people need to undertake for US citizenship; am I missing something? Do I need a lawyer, or is this something I can do on my own? It seems like there might be an advantage to applying for citizenship at the same time as my son; has anyone else done that? Is there anything that I should be prepared for that's not outlined by the consulate (https://losangeles.consulfrance.org/IMG/pdf/notice_d_information_nat_la…)? Any insights or experiences welcome!
Parent Replies
I did this years ago. It is a relatively straight forward process that you can easily do on your own. It's by 'declaration' so it's considered a legal right to request citizenship by marriage. I think the language requirement is increasing to B2 in the coming months so that's something to take in mind.
One thing to note is if your spouse wasn't born in France and/or both of his parents weren't born in France then he'll need to apply for a Certificat de Nationalité Francaise (CNF). This is something that's listed in the fine print and a lot of people miss it.
As an FYI if your son's birth has been registered and he has a French birth certificate then he is already a French citizen. So I'm not sure what you mean by 'pursuing citizenship' for him? Just take his acte de naissance to the consulate and request a passport for him.
I am trying to apply for French citizenship for my son and am finding it very very challenging (my father is French and I was born here). I speak and write French but don’t use it regularly so am finding many of the pieces to check of confusing. Would you be open to chatting about your experience doing the citizenship for your son?
As for your citizenship it seems as straightforward as they say but I don’t have personal experience with it, my husband doesn’t have the language skills in French so we’ve not perused the citizenship option for him.
Courage!