# Possibility of residing abroad after submitting my dossier for naturalisation, with a carte de résident longue durée UE 10 ans



## van_suso (Aug 10, 2015)

I received my Carte de Résident longue durée UE 10 ans in December 2022, and I'm planning to apply for naturalisation within the next four months. I'll still be in France when sending my dossier for naturalisation through the ANEF website, but there may be a case where I may leave France/EU for one to two years. Now I know from this link that I can leave France for up to 6 consecutive years, and EU up to 3 consecutive years, without falling out of status.

Considering the above, I was thinking of the following steps:

1) Apply for naturalisation through ANEF within the next 4-5 months when I'm still in France (I've already been in France for more than 6 years, proven by my carte de résident longue durée UE 10ans), so I should be able to start the process and send the dossier (am I correct?)
2) Possibly (but not sure yet) get out of France in May/June 2023 for say a year or two
3) While abroad, keep track of my naturalisation dossier online through ANEF website and provide the Préfecture with any additional documents they might need
4) Come back to France for the gendarme check and then the physical interview in the Préfecture 

Is there any step that'd not go through? Is it the Step 4) that won't go through?


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

If at all possible, I would try to remain in France until your naturalization has come through. (Normally takes about a year or so.) Once approved, they have a certain period of time during which they can revoke their approval if they find that you aren't actually "serious" about French citizenship on various grounds. 

Your step 4 could cause further problems in that your convocations to the interviews with the gendarmerie and the prefecture can come at rather short notice - say, a mere week or two, no more - and they do have the option to send you a registered letter, which you would need to sign for, to establish the appointments. It's normally the case for naturalization by marriage the that gendarmerie visit may be followed by a "home inspection" - i.e. the nice officer announces that he will follow you home from the appointment to inspect your residence. Probably less likely if you're going for plain old vanilla naturalization - but the option is on the table should they have any reason to suspect anything.


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