If you move permanently to France with children, or perhaps your children are born there after you’ve moved, then sooner or later the question of nationality will crop up.

This can happen sooner rather than later: school kids the world over can be very cruel and British children are often keen to become French in order to avoid being teased for being foreign. (Under the age of 13 however, nothing can be done unless you’ve just been adopted by a French family.)

A little later down the line the question crops up again because various careers in France (joining the police force for example) are only open to French citizens.

It is also true however, that if you decide to stay in France permanently, adopting French nationality simplifies your paperwork and gives you important rights, not least of which is that of being eligible to vote in parliamentary and presidential elections. (As an EU citizen resident in France, you can already vote in European and local elections – register at the local mairie.)

Broadly speaking there are two ways of becoming French: you either inherit your nationality or acquire it through naturalisation.

Inheriting French nationality was one of the rights established by the Napoleonic Code in 1803. If at least one parent is French, then a child – no matter where he is born – is French by droit du sang (right of blood). Children born in France to at least one French parent are French by droit du sol (right of territory).

Naturalisation was established in 1889 during the Third Republic and to be eligible for this, you either have to live in France for at least five years, or you have to marry a French person and live with them for at least a year before being granted French nationality. This is because in line with many other first world countries, the French immigration authorities are increasingly suspicious of sham marriages. This waiting period is scrapped however if the couple have a child in that time, as this is seen as proof that the marriage is genuine. If the couple split up within a year of one spouse making a nationality application, they may well have to prove that the marriage was genuine, or face charges of fraud.

If you’re under 18, you automatically acquire French nationality if this is granted to one or both of your parents.

If your parents are foreign but were born in France, and you yourself were born in France, you are automatically French.

For children born in France of foreign parents, there are two shortcuts to French nationality: at the age of 16, if the minor has lived in France for at least five years, he/she can make a simplified application to the local tribunal for French nationality; and parents can apply on behalf of their children once they are 13 years old – again, with the proviso that the minor has lived in France for at least five years.

This is worth doing for many families as it is quick and relatively painless in the sense that the dossier is easy to complete and the expenses are light and of course once one member of the family acquires French nationality, it is easier for the others to follow suit.

Anyone can become French. There are no exclusions. The criteria are simple: you must be over 18, you must have lived in France for at least five years, you must be of good character and morals, you must not have a serious criminal record (minor things like speeding fines don’t matter), and you must show that you have integrated into French life and that you speak reasonable French.

This is tested by an interview which can last up to an hour, and which is conducted in French. The purpose of this is to check that you speak the language well enough to function and conduct your daily life in France without needing an interpreter. You don’t have to be fluent, but you do need more than ‘la plume de ma tante’!

Naturally, if your children were born and brought up in France, their French will be easily up to scratch, but for children arriving from the UK, learning French isn’t always easy. A lot depends on their ages when they arrived in France as well as whether the children spoke any French in the UK before they moved. The older they were when they started, the more difficulties can be faced.

To apply for French nationality, the first step is to get the forms from your local mairie and fill them in, although perhaps you should delay signing and dating them until you’ve ‘completed the dossier’. This means compiling the sizeable list of documents to be enclosed with the application: birth certificates, proof of identity, family situation, profession, proof of residence in France and an ‘attestation de moralité’ (which sounds tricky, but can be as easy as a letter from the local maire saying you seem respectable).

This lot then has to be sent off (via the mairie) to the ministre chargé des naturalisations, who will carry out checks on you and your application. This process can take up to two years, after which time you will receive a notification of whether or not your application has been successful. This process is free, but if you are successful, you could have to pay costs in the region of €500 (£337).

FACT FILE

For a full explanation of the history of nationality laws in France, see this article (in English): www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/label_france/49/gb/12.html

For details on dual nationality see www.britishembassy.gov.uk

TIPS

British passport holders don’t have to give up their nationality to become French: they can have dual French/British nationality. There are no formalities. You simply retain your British passport. (See the British Embassy website as above.)

To encourage everyone in your household to learn the best French possible, insist on speaking French one day a week at home, watch DVDs in French, subscribe to French comics and magazines, and provide a good range of language supports (books, audio tapes, games, films, TV channels, etc).