Eligible for French passport?

[jacquest]

One question, because I'm a bit mixed.

Was your mother naturalised French or Australian after you were born?

If she was French when you were born, she should have registered you at the French consulate, and that would make you more or less directly French.

If she did not register you but she was indeed french when you were born, you will have to claim French citizenship through your mother, by requesting a "Certificat de Nationalité Française", but most probably you won't have to demonstrate the "links" to France.

Sorry for the confusion.

jacques.

[jacquest]

Originally Posted by waroux

And if say I did get a French passport and therefore the right to vote in France's elections, if I hadn't actually moved there yet in which "electorate" would i cast my vote?

You are included in the registre des français établis hors de France.

When you register in the French consulate of your jurisdiction, you join the "liste electorale", which is the list of all french citizens with right to elect and be elected, under the circomscription where that consulate is.

Then you can vote, in the consulate, for:
- President of the French Republic.
- Deputés des Français de l'étranger (one per circomscription).
- Representatives to the Assemblée des Français de l'étranger

There's no "voting by letter". You can choose if you want to vote in the consulate, or vote in the commune in France of your choice (there are limits, i.e. the commune where your "newest" ancestor was registered, etc.), and there you can vote either in person or by "procuration", which has to be established in advance of the election.

If you register in the commune of your ancestors, then you cannot register in the liste electorale of the French consulate of your jurisdiction. You choose

jacques.

[jacquest]

Just to clarify a bit more, though I'd need your specific details in order to advise in detail.

I see that there might be two different cases:

1 - your mother was french at the moment of your birth, then she naturalised australian afterwards.

In this case, you'll need to request a Certificat de Nationalité Française, attaching all the necessary documents (usually your parents and grandparents birth and mariage certificates, translated to French, legalised or apostilled, all other documents that link you or your mother/grandparents to France, copies of their documents, military records, etc.).
Here's the full info on how to request the CNF, (the consulate in Sydney links to this address, too): Certificat de nationalité française - Service-public.fr

If and when you receive the CNF, this is the PROOF that you are French and that you always were, i.e. if you had children before requesting the CNF, they were also French and can request a CNF themselves.


2. your mother was naturalised french AFTER you were born.

You have to follow the path of the "réintegration" by "déclaration de nationalité". If this is the case, let me know, and I'll provide further details as the procedure is very specific and depends on each specific case.

If your "déclaration de nationalité" is accepted and registered, you will be French since the day you signed the déclaration, but not before. The practical consequence of this is that if you had ADULT children BEFORE signing the déclaration they are NOT french, they will eventually be able to request to be reintegrated by another déclaration (not yours).
If you have children AFTER being reintegrated by the déclaration, they will be french at birth.
If you have minor children when you sign the déclaration, they are reintegrated together with you, on the same date and they are French since that date. Their children will be french at birth.

Hope it helps.

jacques.

[Bevdeforges]

Originally Posted by waroux

Also bev, I read on a previos post by you that these days they only give out French passports to those with good aural and written French. Would this apply in my situation as far as you can tell?

As jacquest has mentioned, it will depend whether you wind up claiming your French nationality by "reintegration" or by some other route. If you are, indeed, French by birth (i.e. based on your mother's nationality), then I don't believe they'll require you to prove that you know the language. You will, however, need a bunch of documents to prove your mother's nationality, and that she was still French at the time of your birth.

If your mother is still around, it might be wise for her to be sure to register with the French Consulate so she can get an up to date carte d'identité. That will save you considerable hassle in proving things for your case.
Cheers,
Bev

[jacquest]

Originally Posted by waroux

I am an Australian citizen, born to an Australian father but my Mother was born in France, immigrating here with her parents when she was 14. I was born in 1977 and she was naturalized after I was born, back in 1980. Am I eligible for a french passport through my mother's ancestry?

Sorry for the hassle, but as you know, the devil is in the details.

Your mother might have "lost" her french nationality by "desuetude" (not using it). If she moved to Australia when she was 14 (and if that was more than 50 years ago), and if she never made effective use of it, or never had "possession d'état" (i.e. having french documents, etc.), she might be under this situation.

In this case, her "reintegrating" her nationality won't help YOU, and you'll also need to go through the process of "reintegrating" nationality yourself.

It's important to have all this kind of details very clear, in order to evaluate the best path to achieve your goal of reclaiming your French nationality (and passport).

If she held french documents along her life, was registered at the consulate, etc., then it will be pretty easy for you to request a Certificat de Nationalité.

If she did not, the first step would be for her to register in the registre des français établis hors de France, at your local consulate. That would be one of the documents you'd better include in your request for a CNF.

If she can't be registered due to having lost nationality for desuetude (could be the case, I don't know), then you better not bother on registering her, and go all the way in your process of reintegrating (for this process, it will not matter if your mother is registered or not, as things will go back to the two generations of french-born-in-france and your level of assimilation).

jacques.

[waroux]

ok, WOW... I woke up this morning to a LOT of info here and I am thankful for everyone's time and input!

I have clarified a few things with my mum today so here is a time line of events which will hopefully make things a bit clearer:

My mother was born in France in 1956.

Both her parents were born in France before 1946 (they however have since been naturalized Australian some time in the 1980's)

She immigrated here with her parents and siblings arriving in December 1970.

I was born in 1977 (she was French at the time).

She was naturalized as an Australian in 1980.

So, my mother has been in Australia for 40 odd years, and was naturalized 30 years ago. So if that "more than 50 years = desuetude" is an actual number, then I suppose she is not considered desuetude.

I have a lot of family over there still. All of my mother's cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents live there. She moved here with only her immediate family.

Thanks once again!

[jacquest]

That's excellent. Let's see point by point, so you might probably get away with it by just requesting a Certificat de Nationalité Française (CNF).

You have to request it including all the documents listed in the previous link, to the "Tribunal d'Instance" of your place of birth.

Once you get the CNF you'll be able to request your "acte de naissance" and with both documents just go to the French consulate of your jurisdiction (Sydney?) and request the passport.

Let's see...

Originally Posted by waroux

My mother was born in France in 1956.

You'll need your mother's acte de naissance (request it to the Mairie of the commune where she was born). Most of the times you can request it by e-mail and they answer by regular post (allow 4-6 weeks).

Originally Posted by waroux

Both her parents were born in France before 1946 (they however have since been naturalized Australian some time in the 1980's)

So you'll need need your grandparents' acte de mariage, and to be on the safe side, your grandparents' acte de naissance (if you have for both of them, better)..

Originally Posted by waroux

She immigrated here with her parents and siblings arriving in December 1970.
I was born in 1977 (she was French at the time).

So this is the tricky part. "She was French at the time" means that she held french documents? Does your birth certificate say that your mother was french? Was she registered at the French consulate? What was her legal status? Foreign resident in Australia? Any documents with this? What do the documents say? I'm asking all this in order to give you a better idea of what documents you should include in your request of the CNF. As you will have to translate and legalise/apostille all non-french documents, the best is to choose wisely, and avoid a zillion translations... Just a small piece of advise. Include as many FRENCH documents as you have (copies, if possible "validated" by the consulate). Keep to the minimum necessary of "foreign" (australian) ones.

Last but not least, did she register you at the French consulate? (If so, you might be able to go directly to the consulate and ask for a passport today).

Originally Posted by waroux

She was naturalized as an Australian in 1980.

This doesn't matter because you were born before that.

Do you have passports/cartes d'identité that belonged to your mother before she was naturalized Australian?

Originally Posted by waroux

So, my mother has been in Australia for 40 odd years, and was naturalized 30 years ago. So if that "more than 50 years = desuetude" is an actual number, then I suppose she is not considered desuetude.

Definitely not.

Originally Posted by waroux

I have a lot of family over there still. All of my mother's cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents live there.

This would be useful if and when your request for a CNF was rejected, as you could eventually prove "assimilation". But I guess you won't reach that stage, and you'll get an approved CNF.

Cheers,
jacques.

[waroux]

So a quick check again with my mother and she did not register me when i was born, so I guess that rules out any quick options!

I am going to contact the consulate today about getting my birth registered now and exactly what they require of me for that.

I will update here when I have done so.

Thanks once again.

[_Sarah_]

Originally Posted by waroux

So a quick check again with my mother and she did not register me when i was born, so I guess that rules out any quick options!

I am going to contact the consulate today about getting my birth registered now and exactly what they require of me for that.

I will update here when I have done so.

Thanks once again.

I wonder why your mother didn't register you?
Actually I think I can guess why: Australia didn't allow dual-nationality up until sometime in the 90's I think, so you wouldn't have been able to be French and Australian.

[waroux]

I have questioned a few things of my mother in relation to all this - the main one (which i will never forgive her for) was NOT speaking french to me as a child!

She says she didn't want me to have a French accent! Can you believe it!? I almost wish I had a french accent more than I wish to be fluent in French!!!