I have French citizenship! I'll tell you how.

I wasn't hoping for it anymore, but it really happened. On 2 July 2024, I got French citizenship.

A very short mail ended in spam it ended an expected 19-month period, accompanied by a good dose of patience and many concerns. During the summer of 2024, I added an additional, important piece to my ten-year life as an emigrant.

You must be wondering why. What prompted an EU citizen to apply for French citizenship?

I knew it would be long and tiring, but I decided to focus only on the benefits of this opportunity.

I sent my first application for citizenship towards the end of 2022, after exactly 9 years of living abroad. A period of time when I felt, somehow, that I deserved French nationality: I always worked, paid taxes regularly, respected the rules, but above all I learned to integrate and adapt to a new culture that in time I made myself. Not always everything has gone according to plan, but I recognize that I have put all the effort in it.

Last but not least, I wanted to have the right to vote: As an EU citizen, I could already participate in the municipal and European elections, but it was not enough. In a historic period of uncertainty and abstentionism skyrocketing, I wanted to feel part of something big and vote at all elections, including presidential and legislative accessible only to French citizens.

What are the requirements for becoming a French citizen?

French citizenship is mainly obtained in three ways:

1. By birth: If at least one parent is a French national, the children will have their nationality directly. Different rules and requirements are required to nationals born in France by foreign parents, as indicated by the official website Service-Public.fr;
2. For marriage with a French national, or other kinship;
3.  By naturalization, as in my case.

To be naturalized, it is essential:

• have a good general culture about history, politics, geography but above all French language, at least B1 level;
• regularly reside in France for at least 5 years, or 2 if you have a French diploma (doctoral, three-year degree etc);
• be in line with taxes and economically independent;
• have no criminal record of any kind;
• submit a recent (less than two years) certificate of knowledge of French. At the moment the only two accepted are the TCF, issued by France Éducation International and TEF of the Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie de Paris Île-de-France. If you passed a DELF/DALF exam more than two years ago, do not make the same mistake: do not send it because it will not be accepted, and you will have to rebuild the dossier from the beginning! Many language schools in France allow you to pass this test, the cost of which is around 150-160 euros.

Do you have the qualifications? Step one, get the DOSSIER ready!

Now you know: in France we love the so-called Ducky! You never miss an opportunity to ask for billions of documents, always the same, which on time risk being lost, forgotten or even worse considered invalid because older than 3-6 months. Do not hesitate to produce scans and photocopies in abundance, so you have a double always in archive. The required documents may vary, but you can do one simulation of the list requested on the official website, specifying your situation.

In any case, tax documents are never lacking, such as tax returns for the last 3 years and the last 3 payrolls. Also prepare to provide a copy of your employment contract, or a certificate for the last 3 jobs.

Beware of translations! If the French version of a document is required, please note that the Italian document will not be accepted. So be ready to spend some money on translations assertionés of marriage certificates, criminal records etc. I also advise not to send photocopies if the original of the document is required. This very small mistake on my part cost me the postponement of a huge amount of documents, with further losses of time and money.

From February 2023 you can finally send the online files, through the platform NATALI. This saves you 30-35 euros you would spend on sending the paper file. In itself, the naturalisation procedure is free of charge, except for the compulsory brand, 55 euros. However, between French tests, certified translations and postal items, you could spend up to 250 euros.

Second step: the interview at the Prefecture.

If your dossier is complete, after 3-4 weeks you should receive a confirmation letter with its identification number, the numéro de suivi. If your situation evolves in the meantime, you are required to notify it quickly to the competent office by sending a marriage certificate, a new employment contract, etc. After about 6 months, however, you will receive by mail the long-awaited convocation toentretien de naturalisation, an interview of varying duration and aimed at proving your integration into French society, and your knowledge of French history and politics. The convocation letter includes a list of documents to be presented on the day of the interview, original or in photocopy.

All information that the candidate is required to know is included in the Livret du citoyen, Available online For free. Questions may be of various kinds, from the names of all the kings of France to the author of the Marseillaise from "where Guyana is" to your favorite French dish. At the naturalization interview I will dedicate a separate article, seen the complexity of the subject and the many things to say about it.

Third stage: calm and patience, you just have to wait.

After the interview, you will wait for at least 6-12 months for a message or a letter, which will finally announce that you have become French nationals. In order to avoid losing important information, at the end of 6 months do not hesitate to contact the reference official to obtain information on your file. The infamous message may never come, never be notified, or, as I did, end up in the spam!

What now? I already got it. appointment for the issue of French documents, while waiting for the date for "official celebrations". But that, too, will be discussed in the next articles.

If you too are about to apply for French citizenship and need a personalized accompaniment, know that This is also part of the My services.