# Refusal of CNF & Appeal



## tom_ox

Hi there,

Would love to ask if anyone has any advice regarding appealing a CNF refusal. After 2.5 years gathering all the documents together, my CNF was refused on these grounds (translation below):

_"It appears from the certificate of Australian nationality, of a voluntary acquisition of a foreign nationality were governed by the provisions of article 9 of the ordinance of October 19, 1945, modified by the law of April 9, 1954 which provided that women voluntarily acquiring a foreign nationality automatically lost French nationality. 

But by decision 2013-360 QPC of January 9, 2014, the Constitutional Council ruled on the unconstitutionality of the words "male sex" appearing in the first and third paragraphs of this article, article 9. The Council specifies that this declaration of unconstitutionality does not may be invoked only by women who have lost French nationality by application of these provisions, and that the descendants of these women will only be able to rely on decisions recognizing, taking into account the unconstitutionality pronounced, that these women have retained their French nationality.

In other words, to find that you are of French nationality by paternal filiation in the context of an application for the issuance of a certificate of French nationality concerning you, the situation of your paternal grandmother with regard to the law nationality is first decided by a French judicial decision."_

It seems that they're referring to the French Nationality Code of 1945, which I have found the following on:

"_Before 19 October 1945, dual nationality was prohibited and any French national who acquired another nationality before that day automatically lost French nationality unless they were male nationals under the obligation of military service and did not sought for the release of their French nationality by decree.[31] Until 1927, women who married a non-French national were also[clarification needed] subject to the automatic loss of nationality if they acquired their husbands' nationalities upon marriage.[32]

The 1945 French Nationality Code (ordonnance n° 45-2441) added a provision to indicate that for a maximum period of 5 years following the "legal cessation of hostilities", the permission for the loss of nationality must be sought from the French government if the person was male and under the age of 50.[33] The transitional period was deemed to have ended on 1 June 1951.[34] Also, the new code specified that a woman would lose her French nationality only when she declared that she did not want to remain French after marriage.[35]

The 1954 amendment to the Nationality Code (loi n° 54-395) removed the five-year period and, retroactively from 1 June 1951, no male national of France under the age of 50 would be subject to the automatic loss provision (section 87) of the 1945 Nationality Code without the specific permission from the French government.[36] This limited the automatic loss of nationality to men over 50 and women, as the permissions to lose French nationality were automatically given to them upon their naturalizations.[37][34] In 2013, a woman who lost her French nationality under section 87 appealed to the Constitutional Council, which found the provision to be unconstitutional under the 1946 Constitution and the 1789 Declaration and ordered the reinstatement of her nationality.[38][34][39] As a result of this decision, all women who lost their nationality between 1951 and 1973 solely under section 87 may voluntarily request for the reinstatement of their nationality by invoking this decision, and their descendents would also be able to invoke this decision if their female ancestors have done so."_

But this seems entirely wrong in my grandmother's case- while she did become a naturalised Australian citizen in 1949, she kept her French passport throughout her life, and her children (and therefore her grandchildren) remained French citizens. My father has his CNF and French passport- I don't understand how they can refuse my application given I was born to a French citizen (at the time of my birth), to the son of a French citizen (born in France)? Does anyone have any advice/experience with this type of thing? It looks like I'm going to have to go to the tribunal, which will run into the 1000s.


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## balthy

I don't have the expertise to help you but have been in a similar situation where I was refused a French passport 3/4 times, one of the reasons was the loss of French nationality of my mother, which was incorrect as she had never lost that. But I had to engage a lawyer to help me navigate through this. If you would like the details of this lawyer, I can send it to you. At least he can review your file and tell you if there is a chance that you are right and the decision was wrong. One thing that my mother did do though is while she lived outside France, she registered with the local French consulate overseas and advised them when she left to go back to France and this document, which my mother provided, was very important.


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## clothmama

tom_ox said:


> My father has his CNF and French passport- I don't understand how they can refuse my application given I was born to a French citizen (at the time of my birth), to the son of a French citizen (born in France)? Does anyone have any advice/experience with this type of thing? It looks like I'm going to have to go to the tribunal, which will run into the 1000s.


My DH was rejected, however that was because MIL lost her French nationality (due to the not having a penis issue) when she got her British just 5 weeks before his birth! 

Are you living in France? If so you may be eligible for aide judicial to fund the lawyer.


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## clothmama

I think it was the 1973 De Gaulle law that finally overturned the female thing, MIL lost hers in late 1970 so if she had known it would change so soon after she wouldn't have taken UK, even though it was difficult in Yorkshire at that time with only French papers.


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## tom_ox

balthy said:


> I don't have the expertise to help you but have been in a similar situation where I was refused a French passport 3/4 times, one of the reasons was the loss of French nationality of my mother, which was incorrect as she had never lost that. But I had to engage a lawyer to help me navigate through this. If you would like the details of this lawyer, I can send it to you. At least he can review your file and tell you if there is a chance that you are right and the decision was wrong. One thing that my mother did do though is while she lived outside France, she registered with the local French consulate overseas and advised them when she left to go back to France and this document, which my mother provided, was very important.


Thanks you Balthy- would be really helpful if I could have those details, please!


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## tom_ox

clothmama said:


> My DH was rejected, however that was because MIL lost her French nationality (due to the not having a penis issue) when she got her British just 5 weeks before his birth!
> 
> Are you living in France? If so you may be eligible for aide judicial to fund the lawyer.


Unfortunately living in UK, so believe I've lost my right to aide judicial 😩


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