My Road to French Citizenship in France

I’m French!

I woke up to an email the other day that said, “You have acquired French citizenship.”. I nearly fell out of my bed.

I couldn’t believe what I was reading and was sure my French language skills were failing me. As it was the morning I went to grab a cup of coffee and thought I’d look again just to be sure. I didn’t want to be too hopeful. After all, it’s been an endless road of disappointment.

The Beginning

For some background, it is important to know that I received an official letter about 6 months ago from the French government politely telling me that my request for citizenship had been denied. I was very disappointed as I had spent about three and a half years assembling the necessary documents, attending interviews to prove my language skills, and explaining why I wanted to become French. I had proof of everything. I had been married to a French man for 35 years and my three children are all grown adult French Citizens. At this point, I was a pretty good candidate. Or so I thought.

We encountered a few bumps in the road during the process. For starters, not long after I’d sent in my initial request for citizenship, my “dossier (file)” was sent back to me informing me of missing documents. Yes, there was one missing document. I knew it. It was my criminal record from Dubai. I needed this document from every country I’d lived in within the last 10 years; in my case, there were many. For some reason, Dubai was not easy to get. Their system was down and I got frustrated. I decided to take a chance and send the file anyway. I figured if it were a problem they’d send it back to me asking for the missing documents. I wanted to get the ball rolling. Big mistake!   My entire file was sent back to me and not only did I need to complete the file with the missing criminal record but I had to go back and do all of the papers again because everything needed to be valid within a 3-month window of the file being sent. OMFG!

I did it. I got everything done again. I requested all the birth certificates, marriage certificates, criminal records, etc. Not only mine but those of my parents my parents-in-law and my children. Uggh. It was a lot. Everything from the U.S. needed to be translated into French……again! It was getting exhausting and also expensive.

Once I had everything together, I held my breath and sent it off again. Then, I waited and I waited.  I waited for about 6 months until finally, I received a letter with a “convocation” (assigned date) asking me and my husband to appear at the local police station for our first interview. Wow! Result!

A Paper Was Missing!

We made it through with no problem and before long, we received our next “convocation” inviting us to have our final interview, hopefully granting me my citizenship. The only glitch was that on the back of that letter was a list of documents we needed to bring along on the day of the interview. We had everything but one.  There was a document mentioned that we had never seen or heard of before. They were asking for my husband’s proof of French citizenship. We couldn’t believe it. They had never requested this before and we were worried we couldn’t obtain the document in time. Why did they ask for this, you may ask? My husband was not born in France. He is French but because of this small detail, they suddenly needed this proof to proceed.

We asked for the paper but were told it would be at least 6 months. We decided to go to the interview anyway. Well, when we got there, they told us that they would go ahead with the interview but because this document was missing, we might have to start the process all over again. I honestly wanted to die. I knew I couldn’t deal with one more minute of gathering official documents. It felt like I’d done nothing but that for 3 years. They also told us that this new policy was recently put in place and that is why we were never asked to provide it before.

I had my interview and it went well. I’d studied for weeks just to be sure that I knew all of the details of France and its history. Clovis, La Mareillaise, Marianne and so on. She asked me none of this. It was so easy and all of the panic was for nothing.  We left and felt discouraged but thought that maybe we’d get lucky.

Citizenship Denied

As we waited, I decided that just to be safe, I still needed to renew my Carte de Sejour (resident card).   My two years were running out and I was eligible for the 10-year card which would allow me to stay in the country.  All I needed to do?  Provide all of the documents……again!   Translated, recent, and paid for. It never stopped.

After about 6 months of wondering what our status was, I received an official letter in the post telling me that with deep regret, my request for citizenship had been denied and thank you for your time. I was deflated. I truly thought that at some point, it would all go through. It had not.

We consulted with a lawyer, as it was in our right to contest the decision.  We had 6 months to do so. Even the lawyer told us that it was probably a waste of time and money and that it was better to start again. Uggh!

I decided to content myself with the Carte de Sejour and figured I’d try again in a couple of years if I felt it necessary.  I just couldn’t do it anymore.

So, there I was again, head-deep in filling out forms, requesting documents, sending them in, and waiting for a response. It went on and on and it was becoming stressful because now I really wanted to be sure to have the possibility to stay in France.  All of my kids were here.

Literally to the day that I had officially completed my Carte de Sejour request, I received an email stating that my French citizenship had been approved.  Huh?!

This came out of nowhere and a good 6 months after receiving the first letter denying my citizenship application.  After reading the email at least 10 times, I realized it was true.  I am thrilled and slightly surprised but after everything that I did to get here, I feel relieved.

Voila!  Je suis Francaise!

Afterthought…..

Why I Wanted to Obtain French Citizenship

The question I’m often asked is why did I feel the need to get my French citizenship.  The answer is family.

I am the mother of three girls, all of whom have dual citizenship.  They are living between the U.S. and Europe and I want to have access to being with them, no matter what!

My youngest daughter was in boarding school in Aix en Provence when COVID hit. She was 15, borders closed and none of us could get to her. I was in the US when that happened. As I wasn’t French, I couldn’t just jump on a plane to be with her. My husband was working in Morocco and the country’s borders closed overnight. I ended up finding a way to get to France but it took a few months and my daughter was here on her own in the protection of a couple of very generous friends (of whom I did not know at the time). This was what pushed me to become French. I never want to be unable to be with my children if something like that happens again.

Becoming French is not a decision to take lightly and I must admit, I would not have given up my American citizenship.  I feel fortunate that I can have both and as my life has turned out, I feel very connected to both countries.  It makes a lot of sense, to me.   

It is June and I am going to vote on Sunday in the European elections.  As I live here, it is liberating to be able to partake in this event and many others. I’ve already noticed, that even though I have my strong American accent, the locals see me differently.  I think the fact that I took the step to become French is just a little way of showing my love for their country.  It feels different.

I would tell anyone who wants to become French to go for it.  It is not easy to obtain but the benefits are huge.  If you are planning on staying in France, I think this is the best route to take.  Long-term visas are good, too but they still don’t allow the flexibility that I now have.

Bon courage!

Suzanne