Two kinds of proof
For a passport, a full copy of your birth record from the French civil register proves French nationality, if it was issued by the Central Civil Registry Service in Nantes or by a consulate, and is less than 3 months old. If your French parent’s own birth or nationality is well documented, the consulate may be able to record your foreign birth in the French register. If your line is less clear, or runs through more than one generation abroad, you’ll need a certificate of French nationality first.
Getting a certificate of French nationality
- Gather the documentsYour full birth certificate, your parents’ full birth certificates, and proof your French parent was treated as French. For older lines, the same for each generation. See the list below.
- Apply to the right officeIf you were born abroad, to the Service de la nationalité des Français nés et établis hors de France, part of the court in Paris. It handles everyone born abroad, whether they live in France or abroad. You can mail your file or hand it in. If you mail it from abroad, a French consulate may ask you to come in with the originals.
- Wait for the decisionOnce your file is complete, the court sends a receipt, and has 6 months from then to decide. It can extend this twice, to 18 months at most, and tells you each time. No decision by the deadline counts as a refusal.
- If you’re refusedYou can challenge the refusal in court within 6 months: the Paris court if you live abroad. A lawyer is required. Since September 2022 there’s no appeal to the Ministry of Justice. Separately, you can ask a court to recognize your French nationality at any time, also with a lawyer.
- Then get your French papersWith the certificate, ask your consulate to record your birth in the French civil register, register as a French national abroad, and apply for a passport.
The certificate is free. The official pages give no expiry date: it shows your nationality on the date it was issued. If you lose it, you apply again.
Documents
- One passport-style photo, proof of identity and proof of address
- Your recent full birth certificate, showing your parents
- Each parent’s full birth certificate
- Proof your French parent was treated as French: an ID card, passport, consular registration card, certificate of nationality, military booklet or voter card
- Your parents’ full marriage certificate, or the recognition that establishes your parentage
- For a line through grandparents or further, the same documents for each generation
- Documents not in French need a translation by a translator on a court of appeal’s list of experts. Some foreign documents also need legalizing or an apostille: the French consulate can tell you which
Being treated as French
French law talks about “possession of French status”: being treated as French by the authorities. For a passport, you can show it if you’ve been treated as French for at least 10 years, with at least two documents such as a military service record, a voter card for elections only French nationals can vote in, or an old-style French identity document, such as the cardboard identity card or the “Delphine” passport, even if it has expired. It matters most for families who have lived abroad a long time, because of the 50-year rule.