The French Minister of Interior, Bruno Retailleau, has issued new recommendations to prefects aimed at restricting foreigners’ access to French nationality by strengthening the qualifications for obtaining French citizenship. The minister declared himself “proud” of the new instructions, referring to them as an “assimilation circular”, reports Infomigrants.
France’s new regulation allows for citizenship rejection based on illegal immigration history, despite having valid documents for five years.
People who may speak French but have no knowledge of French history or ideals, and who have occasionally entered the nation illegally, have been granted French passports for decades.
Retailleau has instructed provincial prefects, who decide who receives a passport, to be far more stringent in their evaluation of who is deserving of French nationality. No more ticking boxes. Citizenship should no longer be viewed as a reward for merely spending five years in France. Even if the individual now has documents, the new regulation allows for rejection based on any history of illegal immigration, reports The Spectator.
The prefectures conduct the initial selection process for getting French citizenship: if the naturalization application is approved by these agencies, it is given to the Ministry of the Interior, which makes the final decision. Applications that are judged undesirable are not transmitted to the ministry.
“Becoming French must be earned, and we must be very, very demanding. “We base French nationality and French citizenship not only on ancestry, but first and foremost on a sense of belonging,” Retailleau said.
The revised rules, which go into effect on January 1, 2026, emphasize features that are expected to restrict access to French nationality while making no significant modifications to the Act itself, infomigrants reported.
Retailleau made a move in January to limit “regularizations,” which would limit undocumented workers’ ability to legalize their status through employment. He is now reversing naturalization by changing the way the legislation is applied rather than by amending the statute itself.
French nationality can be obtained after five years of legal residence, two years if graduated from a French university, and requires ‘assimilation’, a basic language test, integration evidence, and a clean criminal record.
Euroweeklynews reports, “Although the legal framework itself hasn’t changed, the five-page document sets a much firmer tone. It relies heavily on provisions from the recent Darmanin Law, particularly the B2-level language requirement, and introduces a new civics test tied to multi-year residence permits, starting 1 January 2026.”
In 2024, over 100,000 people acquired French nationality. With over five million foreign residents in France, many could be eligible for naturalization, aided by continued immigration and family reunification.
According to Atlys, as of 2025, France’s passport rank is 3rd globally, with a global mobility score of 189, offering visa-free access to 151 countries and territories.