France - Obtain Certificate of Nationality

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Procedure

The Certificate of French Nationality is issued solely by the chief clerk of court.

Before going to your local district court, please check first whether it has the power to issue the certificate. You may check the Department of Justice Website for more info regarding your local district court.

• Application to obtain a CNF must be submitted personally. There are some towns where you can request for the issuance of the certificate by mail, it will be better that you check first if that service is available in your area.
• Minors aged 16 and up may submit their applications themselves, for those who are younger than 16, their application must be submitted by someone exersing parental authority over them.

Rejected application

Administrative appeal

In case your request to obtain the certificate was rejected by the chief clerk, you can make an appeal by sending a letter to the Department of Justice, which will make a decision on how to settle the issue. You must attach a copy of the refusal of your application to your letter of appeal.

There is no prescribed time on up to when can you make administrative an appeal.

Appealing in court

You can also make an appeal through the high court, in which you must be represented by a lawyer.

There is no prescribed time on up to when can you make an appeal through the court.

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Required Documents

General Requirements:

• One identification (identity document issued in France or abroad)
• One proof of address (recent utility bill, house insurance, valid lease, notice of taxation or non taxation certificate etc.)
• Applicant's complete birth certificate

For those who are born in France or whose parents were born in France:

• Complete copy of the birth certificate of the applicant or the applicant's parents (depending on the situation)
• A copy of the family book your parents or marriage

If only one of the applicant's parents is French:

• Complete copy of the birth certificate of the applicant or the applicant's parent (depending on the situation)
• All documents that can prove your parent's French Citizenship (identity card, passport, consular registration card, citizenship certificate, military record, voter registration card, etc.)
• Possibly all relevant documents needed in the procedure especially applicants who where born abroad or has relatives abroad or territory formerly under French sovereignty.

For those who became French nationals by decree or declaration:

• Copy of the Official Journal in which the decree was issued or the certificate issued by the Ministry of Naturalization (exception: if the decree was mentioned on the birth certificate)
• Original copy of the declaration issued (exception: if the declaration was mentioned on the birth certificate)
• Possibly all relevant documents needed in the procedure

For those who became French citizen when they were minors, due to the acquisition of French nationality by one of the parents:

• Complete copy of the birth certificate of the applicant or the applicant's parent (depending on the situation)
• Either the duplicate copy of the decree or the Official Journal in which the decree was issued or the certificate issued by the Ministry of naturalization to your parents
• Either the original report or certificate issued by the authority copy that registered it on your parents
• Possibly all relevant documents needed in the procedure

For those who became French nationals when they were adults, either by birth or after being a resident of France for 5 years:

• All related documents indicating that you have lived in France for 5 years from 11 to 18 or 13 to 18 or from 16 to 21 years (school certificates, apprenticeships, training certificates, certificates of work, etc.)
• Possibly all relevant documents needed in the procedure

Notes:

• Original copies of documents are also required to be presented.
• The birth certificate must be issued recently.
• You may be asked to submit additional documents in case documents presented are not enough to establish the applicant's French Nationality.

Office Locations & Contacts

Please list down the office locations that can be approached for applying. External links can also be used for specifying office locations.

Eligibility

You have to meet one of the criteria below to proceed with the CNF.

1.You must be born in France, or a parent (s) born (s) in France.

2.If you were born abroad, one of your parents should be French.

3.If you have became French by voluntary acquisition (decree or declaration of nationality).

4.If you have became French during your minority, due to the acquisition of French nationality by a parent.

5.If you have become French by birth and majority residence in France for 5 year

Fees

Issuance of the Certificate of French Nationality is free.

Validity

The Certificate of French Nationality is valid infinitely.

You may use the certificate until the matter of law or fact in your situation that led to the issuance of the certificate has changed.

Documents to Use

Please attach documents that can be used by people. e.g. links

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents which would help other people who would like to follow this procedure.   

Processing Time

 Please explain processing time taken in obtaining the document/certificate.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications. 
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites. 	
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver, 
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

The competent body to process applications to obtain a Certificate of Nationality depends on the applicant's place of birth or residence.

• For those living in France (either born in France or abroad): Your application will be processed by the court in the applicant's place of residence.
• For those living in Paris (either born in France or abroad): Applications will be processed by Ple de la nationalit franaise.
• For individuals who are residing abroad:
  • If born in France: District court in the place where the applicant was born.
  • For those who are born abroad: Service de la nationalité des Français

Required Information

A list which displays the kind of information which is required to complete the procedure.
e.g.
1. Date of Birth.
2. City or County of Birth.

Need for the Document

The Certificate of French Nationality (CNF) is an official document that proves that its holder or the person indicated on the certificate is a French National. The certificate states how the citizen became a French National and documents used to establish citizenship.

Information which might help

You must keep your Certificate of French Nationality in a secure place because if you lose it, you will have to repeat the same process in order to obtain a new one. The Certificate of French Nationality is a prima facie evidence.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

• Ministry of Interior:

http://www.interieur.gouv.fr/A-votre-service/Mes-demarches/Papiers-Citoyennete/Etat-civil-Identite-Authentification/Certificat-copie-legalisation-et-conservation-de-documents/Certificat-de-nationalite-francaise

Others

More information which might help people.