Retiree's French citizenship denied over foreign income sources

A retiree from south-west France appears to have fallen foul of the stricter attitudes demanded of prefectures over nationality applications in a recent Interior Ministry circular.

The woman, in her seventies, told The Connexion that after a five-year wait and having had the final prefecture interview, her application was rejected on grounds that she did not have sufficient French-sourced income to cover her needs. 

This was despite her managing well, on a combination of a UK state pension, private pension and investments, she said. She is now considering an appeal but is feeling “upset and disappointed with the system”.

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Language skills are just one of many elements looked at by prefectures in nationality applications – another is that there should be no doubt as to the person’s established residency in France at the time of applying.

Issues looked at for this include whether the “centre of your material interests” and “family links” are in France. For example, a person whose spouse and minor children live abroad may be rejected as their close family links are deemed to be elsewhere.

In the past, there have been reports of some prefectures raising objections to people whose income is from abroad, however this was made more explicit in the recent circular sent out by Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau to prefects.

It states that prefects should reject applications from those whose incomes are mostly from benefits.

“You will also set aside, apart from in exceptional cases, requests from applicants whose income is mostly from abroad, as this situation shows that they have not totally transferred the centre of their interests to France,” the circular says.