Can I obtain French Nationality?

Question

My great- grandfather was French, he emmigrated to Puerto Rico in the late 1800s from Corsica. His son (my grandfather) was born and raised in Puerto Rico . Would my grandfather be considered from a french nationality? If so, would the nationality be passed on to my mother automatically or does she has to apply for it? And if she can apply for it, can I do the same too?

Answer 1

You are not French automatically if that is what you are asking.

However, if you wish to become a naturailzed French citizen you can do this. It requires five years of legal residence in France and you must speak fluent French and have a complete understanding of France, its customs, its government and its laws.

Answer 2

I became a French citizen in 2002 through marriage and it's very difficult these days to obtain it any other way.

The snag most of us Americans face (and I'm assuming that you are American unless there's more to your story!) is that the French parent gave up his or her nationality upon immigration to the U.S. which used to be required. Another problem was that if a boy had French nationality, he was required to do military service at age 18 (until very recently) and many sons of French people gave up their citizenships at that point.

Your grandfather, if he was ever French to begin with, might have recieved the letter on his birthday and made his decision back then. There is a agreement with the U.S. military if he served with them and if that agreement was in place at the time (now it's getting technical but I know men who were in this position).

I had to interview separately with the police and a judge. There was no exam and I didn't have to know anything about the laws or history. For the record, I did not have to give up my American citizenship and hold both, as do my children.

There is a minimum required level of French and usually a residence requirement, which is tricky since you'd then have to get a work visa, which alone is tough since there's high unemployment here and they don't really need more immigrants.

Contact the French authorities directly.  I think Miami is your closest French Consulate.

Are you sure there isn't another closer link to another European Union country? If you have, say a Spanish or Italian grandparent, that might be another easier route and you could live and work in France if you have Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, Greek, Polish, etc. nationality. I understand that the EU has stopped great-grandparent connections when Ireland was giving nationality going that far back.

I looked into this before I was kicked out of England but that was over a decade ago and all my grandparents were born in the U.S. which gave me no avenues to stay. Get more updated info directly from the embassy or consulate of the country in question.

Now, ironically, I could go back to England if I wanted!

Answer 3

Sure. Anyone can try!

But children of Nationals are considered Dual-National. That is, they can be from both Countries--this does not exclude a ton of paperwork.

Because you are not a child of two nationalities, you are considered Puerto Rican only