# Citizenship by descent & marriage.



## knoland (5 mo ago)

My fiance and I are trying to move in Paris in the coming years. We're in the process of dissecting the intricacies of achieving this, but are unclear of a few things.

Here's the situation:


My fiance was born in New York City
Her mother is a french citizen with a current french passport
We're attempting to find out if her birth was ever registered in France but this is not clear as of yet
We currently live in NYC, as does her mother who can visit the embassy with her if necessary

A few questions:

* Based on everything we've read, the first step if her birth was not registered is to apply for a CNF?

* Do we need to move to France before she applies for her CNF (if that is in fact the document we need)? Online resources have mixed information about this.

* Does she need to complete the language and culture test, online resources are not clear about this for citizenship by descent

* Based on what we've been reading online, she must be a French citizen at the time of our marriage? Do we need to delay getting married until this paperwork is completed and she has her Passport, or does it not matter since she may technically already be a French citizen (the French government website is very unclear about this).


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## pgcfriend2 (10 mo ago)

knoland said:


> My fiance and I are trying to move in Paris in the coming years. We're in the process of dissecting the intricacies of achieving this, but are unclear of a few things.
> 
> Here's the situation:
> 
> ...


The fiancé of someone I know is in the same situation where his mother was born in France but moved to the US. He's talking with the French consulate that handles people living in his state. He was told that he could apply for French citizenship by descent and that he didn't have to take the French fluency test. He's still gathering information about that.

My husband is French and had to be registered with the French consulate handling expats from our state before he could renew his French passport. He had to travel to the consulate office to renew his passport in person. If her mother has a French passport I'm sure her birth is registered in France at the City Hall in the city where she was born. She is registered at a French consulate since she has a current French passport. I'm sure she probably had to go in person to get her passport renewed unless the process has changed since December 2013 when my husband renewed his. It's not clear where she went to renew her French passport but if she's lived in NYC a while she is probably registered at the New York French consulate.

People can apply for French citizenship in the US. I assume this is also true for people applying for citizenship by descent. You can apply at the French consulate in Washington DC for people in the Eastern US or Los Angeles for those in the Western US. I suggest that you review the DC consulate website for French citizenship information and contact them directly with any questions.


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## BackinFrance (Nov 26, 2020)

If your fiancee was born in the US and her birth was registered in certificate rance, her birth certificate should be held in Nantes and you can request a copy online here. There is no charge.

https://auth.service-public.fr/real...e=3rGICh8zKzSkHjGyni9_jWVXmeGCjroV_-TbLMjFer8[/URL]


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

knoland said:


> Based on what we've been reading online, she must be a French citizen at the time of our marriage? Do we need to delay getting married until this paperwork is completed and she has her Passport, or does it not matter since she may technically already be a French citizen (the French government website is very unclear about this).


It kind of depends on what you are trying to accomplish here. If she has French citizenship through her mother then she will be considered a French national from birth as I understand it. If you're planning on getting married in the US, there is an additional procedure you would have to go through before getting married so that everything gets properly registered on her French birth certificate. If her CNF is in process when you get married in the US, then the "inscription" of your marriage into the French records will have to be done once the CNF comes through. Or, if you get married in the US first and then start the CNF process, the fact of the marriage will be documented into the process and the marriage will appear on her French birth certificate when it is issued. No matter which route you choose, there will be a bit of "extra" paperwork to get through and whether in France or not, these things take time. At least you should determine her status (i.e. does she have a French birth certificate already or not?) before taking the plunge. It's much easier all around if you do the pre-marital stuff for transcribing the marriage before the marriage takes place if you can.


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