Foreign income leads to French citizenship refusal for retiree in south-west
New approach can penalise applicants whose income is primarily from overseas
Reader hopes to overturn the citizenship decision by showing his many links to France in an appeal to the Interior Ministry
Hiram Rios/Shutterstock
A retired university lecturer from south-west France is preparing to appeal after being turned down for citizenship because his main income is a pension based on work in the UK.
This is the second case we have heard of from this area since Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau sent a circular to prefectures telling them to take a demanding attitude towards granting citizenship.
This included rejecting applicants whose income is mostly from abroad, apart from in exceptional cases, as “this situation shows they have not totally transferred the centre of their interests to France”.
The reader, who asked not to be named, saw his application rejected by the Gironde prefecture in Bordeaux.
However, he said he has been advised by a lawyer that he has a good chance of success in an appeal to the Interior Ministry if he explains his many links to France, which is his established home.
“When I originally applied, the form did not give room to give a real narrative explanation. In the appeal I will explain that my pension income, of course, comes from abroad, but is 100% transferred here. And I will emphasise my many links with France, even through my working period.
“The problem is, nationality is discretionary, so one cannot expect it as a right.”
People have two months to make such appeals. If refused, or there is no response in four months, they can appeal further to the administrative court of Nantes.
