Source: https://www.brahin-avocats.com/en/conditions-of-acquisition-of-french-nationality/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 04:33:48+00:00

Document:
You have to be adult (article 21-22 paragraph 1 of the Civil code).
However, you can file a request at the age of 17, but the decree on naturalization will be issued to you on reaching adulthood.
The naturalization of a minor child who remains a foreigner despite the fact that one of his parents has acquired French citizenship may also be requested. The child must have resided in France with this parent for at least 5 years on the date of the request (article 21-22 paragraph 2 of the Civil code).
You have to reside in France at the time of signing of the decree on naturalization.The notion of residence is wider than the simple notion of habitation. It implies that you must have the center of your material interests in France (especially professional), as well as your family ties. If you live in France but your spouse and /or your children live abroad, you may be refused in the acquisition of French nationality (article 21-16 of the Civil code).
You are a volunteer of the national service.
If you live abroad, the assimilation of a residence that benefits one of the spouses extends to another and to his underage children if they really live together (article 21-26 § 2 of the Civil code).
At the time of your request, you must have a valid residence permit, unless you are a citizen of one of the countries of the European Union or Switzerland (article 21-27 § 3 of the Civil code).
You should not be subject to the deportation order or the prohibition on entry into French territory which has a legal effect (article 21-23 and 21-27 of the Civil code).
By proving of your sufficient knowledge of French history, culture and society (article 21-24 of the Civil code, Law no 2003-1119 from the 26th November 2003).
You must have sufficient oral knowledge of the French language to cope with everyday situations (article 21-24 and 21-24-1 of the Civil code, article 2 of the Law no 2011-672 from the 16th June 2011).
Employment is a fundamental condition of assimilation and integration in France (article 21-16 of the Civil code).
Nevertheless, it is appreciated over the entire professional career and not just over your specific situation at the time of your request.
The nature of the contract of employment (fixed-term contract, intermediate contract) is not an obstacle to obtaining citizenship, if the activities carried out under these contract, allows you to have a stable and sufficient income.
You must be a decent, law-abiding citizen (article 21-23 § 3 of the Civil code).
To have been sentenced in France to at least 6 months’ imprisonment without suspension (except the case of rehabilitation or erasure of the conviction of the bulletin n° 2 of your criminal record).
To have been sentenced for a crime or offense that constitute a violation of the fundamental interests of the Nation (except the case of rehabilitation or erasure of the conviction of the bulletin n° 2 of your criminal record).
To have been convicted of a terrorist act (except the case of rehabilitation or erasure of the conviction of the bulletin n° 2 of your criminal record).
The marriage to a French citizen has no automatic effect on the nationality of the spouse (art. 21-1 of the Civil code).
The acquisition of French citizenship is done according to the procedure of the declaration if a certain number of conditions are fulfilled.
Your spouse must be a citizen of France on the day of your marriage and retain this nationality from that date (art. 21-2 § 2 of the Civil code).
Only marriages recognized as valid under the French law, whether they were celebrated in France or abroad, permit to acquire French citizenship. Is excluded any marriage in which one of the spouses is in a state of polygamy because of the previous uninterrupted marriage (the Circular of the Minister for Migration Policy on the procedure for acquiring French citizenship through marriage from the 29th December 2009).
You have to be married to a French citizen within 4 years on the date of the request for a citizenship (art. 21-2 § 1 of the Civil code).
In case of residence abroad, your partner has not been registered in the consular register during your common life.
If your marriage was concluded abroad, it must be entered in the French civil status register (the Circular of the Minister for Migration Policy on the procedure for acquiring French citizenship through marriage from the 29th December 2009).
You should not be a subject of the deportation order or the prohibition on entry into French territory which has a legal effect (article 21-23 and 21-27 of the Civil code).
The common residence (emotional and material) with your spouse should not be interrupted from the day of your marriage (the Circular of the Minister for Migration Policy on the procedure for acquiring French citizenship through marriage from the 29th December 2009).
You must have sufficient oral knowledge of the French language to cope with everyday situations (article 21-2 of the Civil code, article 3 of the Law no 2011-672 from the 16th June 2011).
If you are a foreigner over 65 years of age, an ascendant of a Frenchman and you have been living in France during 25 years, you can make a declaration of French citizenship (article 21-13-1 of the Civil code).
– To have been sentenced in France to at least 6 months’ imprisonment without suspension (except the case of rehabilitation or erasure of the conviction of the bulletin n° 2 of your criminal record).
– To have been sentenced for a crime or offense that constitute a violation of the fundamental interests of the Nation (except the case of rehabilitation or erasure of the conviction of the bulletin n° 2 of your criminal record).
– To have been convicted of a terrorist act (except the case of rehabilitation or erasure of the conviction of the bulletin n° 2 of your criminal record).
If you are a brother or a sister of the person who has obtained French citizenship, you can acquire French citizenship as well on reaching adulthood and in fulfilling all the below-mentioned conditions.
3) on the attainment of the age of 13 on the basis of his/her habitual residence in France, discontinuous or not, during five years after reaching the age of eight.
A child born in France from parents who do not have French citizenship can acquire it. Depending on the age of the child, the conditions and the procedure for obtaining citizenship are different.
Parents who do not have French citizenship of a child between the age of 13 to 16, who was born in France and usually reside there since the age of eight, may request on his behalf the acquisition of French citizenship through the declaration. The consent of the child is compulsory, except the case if his physical or mental abilities do not allow him to express (article 21-11 § 2 of the Civil code).
he habitual resides in France, discontinuous or not, at least during five years after reaching the age of eleven.
he habitual resides in France, discontinuous or not, at least during five years after reaching the age of eleven (article 21-7 of the Civil code).
The simple adoption does not allow the adopted child to acquire the French citizenship automatically. He has to request his receipt by declaration.
If the adoption has been pronounced abroad, the act that establishes it must have been the subject of decision of its exequatur in France.
The adopter must have French citizenship at the moment of the adoption of the child, it does not matter if he became a foreigner afterward.
A child adopted in plenary order by a Frenchman acquires the citizenship of France automatically through the filiation. He is considered French from his birth and does not have to claim this quality.
It does not matter whether the parents are married or not, since the French parent appears on the child’s birth certificate.
The loss of French citizenship by parents has no effect on the citizenship of the child.
Reinstatement allows a person, who has owned and then lost French nationality, to find it for the future. If it meets all of the below legal conditions, the reinstatement of citizenship by declaration is a right, and the administration can not resist it.
You can apply to be reinstated in French nationality if you have lost it because of a marriage with a foreigner whose country does not accept dual nationality. This opportunity is also open to your unmarried minor children with the condition to have the same habitual residence or, in case of separation or divorce, an alternating residence.
You must have kept or acquired obvious links with France, particularly cultural, professional, economic or family.
You have to reside legally in France (with a temporary document or residence permit).
You should not be a subject of the deportation order or the prohibition on entry into French territory which has a legal effect.
Articles 24 – 24-3, 26 – 26-5 of the Civil code.
Decree No. 93-1362 from 30th December 1993 on declaration of nationality, decisions on naturalization, reinstatement, loss, revocation and withdrawal of French nationality.
You can apply to be reinstated in French nationality by declaration if you have lost French citizenship during your minority due to the voluntary acquisition by your parents of the citizenship of a country that does not accept dual citizenship. This opportunity is also open to your unmarried minor children with the condition to have the same habitual residence or, in case of separation or divorce, an alternating residence.
You have to be adult.
If you have held certain public mandates (former member of the Parliament of the Republic, of the Assembly of the French Union…), you can apply to be reinstated in French nationality by declaration. This opportunity is also open to your unmarried minor children with the condition to have the same habitual residence or, in case of separation or divorce, an alternating residence.
You have to established your home in France.

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