Are Huguenot descendants able to claim French citizenship?

Reader Question: I heard that there is a law giving French citizenship to Huguenot descendants and there was even talk of restoring lost lands and money. Is that true?

The Huguenots were a major group of non-Catholics in France in the 16th and 17th Centuries heavily persecuted for their Protestant beliefs.

Decades of religious conflict culminating in the 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes – an earlier royal document promising to protect the rights of non-Catholic Christians in France – reduced the number of Huguenots in France from close to a million to only a few thousand.

The majority of the Huguenots emigrated from France, many to England and Scotland (Protestant countries), as well as to colonies in the New World, Switzerland, Prussia/Protestant German states and the Dutch Republic. 

Despite assimilating into their new nations, the Huguenots retained some traditionally French cultural aspects, often including keeping their French family names. 

Equal rights in France

Following the French Revolution, Huguenots regained equal rights in France with the ‘Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen’ in 1789, and a 1790 law specifically dealt with those exiled due to religious reasons, saying:

“All persons born in a foreign country who are descendants, to any degree whatsoever, of a Frenchman or Frenchwoman expatriated for religious reasons, shall be declared natural French citizens and shall enjoy the rights attached to that status if they return to France, take up residence there, and take the civic oath."

Revolutionaries also promised returning families descending from Huguenots they could receive partial reparations alongside re-obtaining citizenship, including the potential return of lost land and financial compensation, although few opted to return to France. 

A tumultuous history following the Revolution likely led to further reluctance from descendants to return to France, but as late as 1889 a law was passed specifically for Huguenot families allowing them to retain the right to return to France.

“The descendants of families who were outlawed when the Edict of Nantes was revoked will continue to benefit from the provisions of the law of 15 December 1790,” it stated. 

As late as 1985, then-President François Mitterrand offered a formal apology to Huguenot descendants across the world. This coincided with a stamp confirming France is the home of Huguenots (Accueil des Huguenots). 

Can Huguenot descendants gain citizenship today?

The provisions of the earlier laws have been lost, as France progressively tightened immigration rules, both in terms of citizenship by birth in France and by descendency.

In certain other countries where jus sanguinis (citizenship through descendency) is more prominent, you can gain citizenship based on ancestors several generations past, providing you can prove direct links between you and them, and them and the country. 

This was notably the case in Italy until recent changes restricted how far back a person could go in their genealogy to gain citizenship. 

In France, most cases of acquiring citizenship occur by moving to France, or being born in France to non-French parents and remaining in the country.

People living abroad but whose parents were French, can confirm French nationality via filiation (citizenship by descent) famously used by Stanley Johnson, father of former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. 

In this case, however, birthright by descendency only goes back one generation, and requires at least one of your parents to be a French citizen.

In addition, the parents of the would-be applicant must have retained concrete links with France. 

In practice, this means having ‘contact’ with the French state in the past 50 years, either by voting in an election, renewing a passport or registering a birth or marriage, etc. 

Outside of this, there are no birthright citizenship rules in place in France.