Bruno Retailleau presented, Monday, May 5, a new circular devoted to naturalizations of foreigners who, in form, insists more on the provisions likely to restrict access to French nationality, without major modifications on the merits. The document had been revealed Sunday by Le Figaro and consulted by the France-Presse agency (AFP).
“This circular is a rupture”more “Not with our law”underlined the minister, traveling to the prefecture of Créteil, in Val-de-Marne. “Becoming French, it must be deserved, and we must be very very demanding”he also said. “We rest the French nationality and French citizenship, not only on ancestry, but first of all on a feeling of belonging”. He had already revised in January the Valls circular on the conditions of regularization of undocumented foreigners in France.
He detailed on Monday the three criteria that will be tightened to obtain French nationality. “The first effort seems so obvious, but it must be remembered, it is respect for our laws”he declined. “I ask the prefects to reject the requests of foreigners who would have been in an irregular situation in the past. »» He then insisted on the need to better “Know our language, know too and recognize the history of France”.
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“Do not depend on social assistance”
The level of the French oral exam will be noted. And “We are going to create, from 1is January 2026, a civic examination which will allow to know with the applicant his knowledge of our history by his knowledge of civic culture ”he said. Finally, in terms of work, the prefects will have to check “If applicants have sufficient resources not to depend on social assistance”continued the Minister of the Interior.
The five -page text, to which the Charter of Rights and Duties of the French citizen is annexed, was distributed to all the prefects by the Minister, holding a hard line on immigration and also a candidate for the presidency of the Republicans. He recalls that “Jurisprudence establishes naturalization not as a right, but as a sovereign decision of the government”.
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In 2024, 66,745 acquisitions of French nationality by decree and by declaration (marriage, ascendants and siblings) were counted, which represents an increase of 8.3 % compared to 2023, which is explained by a catch -up after a year marked by technical difficulties, according to the general direction of foreigners in France (DGEF), which depends on the Ministry of the Interior.
