Refused French nationality

[FairyNuff]

I haven't posted on here for a while, having had nothing much to add to the various discussions, and no real problems. [:D]

But we have just received from our prefecture a letter refusing us French nationality quoting article 21-16 of the code cilvil which says "nul ne peut être naturalisé s'il n'a en France sa résidence au moment de la signature du décret de naturalisation" (no-one may be naturalised if his home is not in France at the time of signing of the decree). Suffice to say our one and only residence is in France.

The second and third paragraphs then say basically that because most of our money is still in GB and not in France we don't meet the criteria to financially guarantee our lives (we don't as yet receive a pension, but I'll have my superannuation next year). However, having checked the conditions, there is no mention of having to have your resources in France so we're stumped. A French friend is helping us formulate a dossier to appeal, but I wondered if anyone else has come across this, and how did you proceed?

Many thanks

FairyNuff

[NormanH]

It sounds a classic case of an incompetent fonctionnaire not having read things correctly.

I don't know if this office could help you:

http://www.defenseurdesdroits.fr/sinformer-sur-le-defenseur-des-droits/organisation-generale-des-services/organigramme-des-services-du-defenseur-des-droits

[FairyNuff]

Thank you NormanH, I'll have a look at it tomorrow. The friend who's helping us is the retired secretaire général from our sous préfecture, so he knows who to phone to have an explanation.

FairyNuff

[Patf]

We had some South African friends who obtained french nationality, and he still had a business in S.A. But maybe they had plenty here too, they seemed comfortably off. Possibly he had french ancestors too.

They've just given up and returned to SA.

I don't know the ins and outs, but perhaps it's to do with your apparent standard of living here and how much you can contribute to the french economy. Like the criteria for getting into the french health system for early retirees.