French senators meet minister over retiree citizenship refusals

Senators  worried about the refusal of French citizenship to foreign residents with income from abroad are due to meet the interior minister on April 1.

The office of Senator Nicole Bonnefoy (Charente) said she was meeting Laurent Nuñez “with several other colleagues” to discuss the subject.

The minister told her during a Senate debate that he would examine the issue, after claims that the rules are being applied too strictly.

Reports of foreign pensioners, in particular, being turned down have multiplied since the then-interior minister Bruno Retailleau sent out a circular last year asking prefects to take a tougher attitude to granting citizenship.

This included, as a general rule, refusing citizenship to those whose income comes from abroad.

Mr Retailleau said it showed they had not sufficiently transferred their centre of interests to France, though exceptions could be made.

A growing number of readers have told of refusals, despite having well-established lives in France and evidence of integration into their communities.

One said that "it seems a shame to be rejected for things that are beyond my control,” adding:  "Apart from spending a lot on translations and French exams, I had to go for an interview, which, it seems, was a waste of time.”

Another said: “I’ve been on committees, choir, orchestras, I’ve restored theatres and I volunteer for security duties for the department. I take neighbours to hospital, I help with wine harvests, we’ve opened our garden for charity...”

A third said: "I feel it is unfair, especially as one of the conditions for me to get a visa to come – and for every year before I obtained a 10-year long-term residency card – was that I would not seek employment here. When I came, ten years ago, I could have looked for a job if I had known it would be necessary.

“I intend to appeal and will show I am assimilated and I sold my possessions, all my property, in the US. I own nothing there now, so have completely moved my life here. I love France: it is much more politically and socially aligned with my beliefs.”

While the issue of where a person's income is from has been looked at in the past among the many elements that are considered in a citizenship application, it is not fixed in the French legal codes as a crucial factor. 

Also, there has often, in particular, been tolerance with regard to retirees with foreign pensions (ie. as opposed to people who work abroad). However, the circular removed that.

Appeals against refusals are possible, but difficult and uncertain, especially as acquiring citizenship is seen as a favour of the state, not a right.  

Interior ministry figures recently confirmed a fall in the number of naturalisations last year, by 13.5%, which the ministry said was linked to the tougher rules laid out in last May’s circular.