Summary by Oriane Calligaro of the study published in Info migrations (full text in French available here)
1. Summary
In 2010, the increase of the annual numbers of acquisition of French citizenship – 143 275 new French citizens – is in part due to acquisition of citizenship by marriage. This rate remains very close to the average rate observed over the last ten years (142 700).
The marked increase of acquisitions by marriage is essentially a catch-up phenomenon. This is a result of the end of the effect produced by the 2006 law which extended the period of marriage necessary for the acquisition of citizenship from two to four years.
The number of people who could apply for acquisition by decree has noticeably decreased. However, a reorganisation of the processing allowed for faster decisions. In total, the stock of pending applications decreased and nearly 7 000 supplementary applications were successful.
In 2009, France was among the three European countries recording the highest absolute numbers of acquisition: it ranks behind the UK (206 000 acquisitions) and before Germany (96 000 acquisitions). These three countries represent more that the half of the citizenship grants in the 27 EU Member States. According to Eurostat, 776 000 persons acquired the citizenship of a member state in 2009 and 699 000 in 2008. France is close to the European average if we consider the acquisition ratio in comparison to the total population (0,21 %).
For adults, the two main modes of citizenship acquisition are naturalisation and marriage with a French citizen. The first mode is an acquisition by decree; the second is an acquisition by declaration. In 2010, 87 565 persons were concerned by one of these modes of acquisition.
For children, it is possible to acquire citizenship through three different modes: by anticipated declaration between 13 and 17 years of age, through extension when one of the parents is granted French citizenship or without procedure when the child comes of age. In 2010, 23 086 children born in France acquired citizenship by anticipation and 29 659 children born abroad who migrated to France with their parent(s) acquired it by extension 2 455 young adults were granted French citizenship at the age of majority without having to submit an application or declaration.
2. Acquisition of French citizenship by decree
In 2010, more that 94 000 non-nationals acquired French citizenship by decree, which amounts to nearly 66% of the total number of acquisitions. Men who acquired citizenship by decree number 46 473 and their median age is 39,9 years. The median age for women of this category is 38,3 years. The acquisitions by decree are divided as follows: 93,6% are naturalisations and 6,4% are re-acquisitions. Moreover, 30,9% of the acquisitions by decree are the result of extensions within the family. The number of persons concerned by extensions (29 268 acquisitions) is a little higher than in 2009 and represents an important share of the acquisitions by decree. Children between 13 and 17 years and born in France are little concerned by this mode of acquisition since they have the possibility, provided that they are born in France, of obtaining French citizenship by anticipation.
Since non-nationals in their majority acquire French nationality by decree, the distribution by geographic origins explains largely the distribution of acquisitions as the whole: 68,3% of the persons who were granted citizenship by decree come from Africa – and among them 44,7% from the Maghreb. In the remaining 31,7%, 5,5% were nationals of the European Economic Area and 5,3% were Turk nationals. The proportion of persons coming from Africa is therefore higher for acquisitions by decree than for the total number of acquisitions.
In 2010, more that 94 000 non-nationals acquired French citizenship by decree, which amounts to nearly 66% of the total number of acquisitions. Men who acquired citizenship by decree number 46 473 and their median age is 39,9 years. The median age for women of this category is 38,3 years. The acquisitions by decree are divided as follows: 93,6% are naturalisations and 6,4% are re-acquisitions. Moreover, 30,9% of the acquisitions by decree are the result of extensions within the family. The number of persons concerned by extensions (29 268 acquisitions) is a little higher than in 2009 and represents an important share of the acquisitions by decree. Children between 13 and 17 years and born in France are little concerned by this mode of acquisition since they have the possibility, provided that they are born in France, of obtaining French citizenship by anticipation.
Since non-nationals in their majority acquire French nationality by decree, the distribution by geographic origins explains largely the distribution of acquisitions as the whole: 68,3% of the persons who were granted citizenship by decree come from Africa – and among them 44,7% from the Maghreb. In the remaining 31,7%, 5,5% were nationals of the European Economic Area and 5,3% were Turk nationals. The proportion of persons coming from Africa is therefore higher for acquisitions by decree than for the total number of acquisitions.
3. Acquisition of French citizenship by marriage
In 2010, 21 923 spouses of French citizens acquired French citizenship by marriage. Therefore, the number of acquisitions by marriage noticeably increased between 2009 and 2010 (+34 %), as a consequence of the end of the mechanic effect of the legislative change mentioned above.
The acquisitions by extension of naturalisation to spouses are not numerous and represent only 0,6% of the total of acquisitions. However, like in the case of acquisitions by marriage, they increased significantly in 2010, passing from 700 to 900 acquisitions.
The distribution by origin of the persons who acquire citizenship by marriage is similar as the one for other modes of acquisition. However, it can be noticed that a higher proportion of persons come from America (8,5% for the acquisition by marriage and 4,4% for the acquisition by decree). There are also strong gender disparities for certain national groups. There is a strong majority of women among the nationals of CIS countries (more than 85%), whereas they represent only 41% of the persons coming from the Maghreb.
4. Acquisition of French nationality by birth
The persons who were born as foreign nationals are mostly young people born on the French territory who benefited from the possibility of acquiring French citizenship by anticipation as early as age 13. In 2010, they were 23 086; four out of five (80,2%) are 13 to 15 years old and the two genders are equally represented since 51,3% of these children are boys.
Concerning the geographic origins, the same hierarchy as for the two other modes of acquisition can be observed: a high proportion of nationals from Africa (35,7 % in 2010) with two third among them coming from the Maghreb, then persons from Asia (15,9 %), Europe (10,6 %), and America (2,7 %).