Hi - Did you keep any of your old passports/IDs? You can send copies of those to show you held elements of possession d'état while living abroad. I don't know how old you are, but I was able to get archival copies of my grandmother's consular registrations from the 1960s from the Centre des Archives diplomatiques de Nantes. I emailed archives.cadn@diplomatie.gouv.fr and asked for documents like consular inscription, passport and ID requests. They originally refused me saying I had to request état civil documents from the SCEC, but I clarified I was not looking for those documents, but rather the records that show elements of possession d'état and then they found 3 records of consular registration. On those forms, she listed my father, so I'm hoping this will help my own CNF case.

Did you ever register your marriage? If so, get a copy of your French marriage certificate (you can request this on service-public.fr). That is also proof of possession d'état.

Hope that helps. If your son can't work it out, he can try to declare through Article 21-14, but he will have to prove significant ties to France to do so.

 

Hi - Did you keep any of your old passports/IDs? You can send copies of those to show you held elements of possession d'état while living abroad. I don't know how old you are, but I was able to get archival copies of my grandmother's consular registrations from the 1960s from the Centre des Archives diplomatiques de Nantes. I emailed archives.cadn@diplomatie.gouv.fr and asked for documents like consular inscription, passport and ID requests. They originally refused me saying I had to request état civil documents from the SCEC, but I clarified I was not looking for those documents, but rather the records that show elements of possession d'état and then they found 3 records of consular registration. On those forms, she listed my father, so I'm hoping this will help my own CNF case.

Did you ever register your marriage? If so, get a copy of your French marriage certificate (you can request this on service-public.fr). That is also proof of possession d'état.

Hope that helps. If your son can't work it out, he can try to declare through Article 21-14, but he will have to prove significant ties to France to do so.

Hi - Did you keep any of your old passports/IDs? You can send copies of those to show you held elements of possession d'état while living abroad. I don't know how old you are, but I was able to get archival copies of my grandmother's consular registrations from the 1960s from the Centre des Archives diplomatiques de Nantes. I emailed archives.cadn@diplomatie.gouv.fr and asked for documents like consular inscription, passport and ID requests. They originally refused me saying I had to request état civil documents from the SCEC, but I clarified I was not looking for those documents, but rather the records that show elements of possession d'état and then they found 3 records of consular registration. On those forms, she listed my father, so I'm hoping this will help my own CNF case.

Did you ever register your marriage? If so, get a copy of your French marriage certificate (you can request this on service-public.fr). That is also proof of possession d'état.

Hope that helps. If your son can't work it out, he can try to declare through Article 21-14, but he will have to prove significant ties to France to do so.

Thank you!!! I am going to email as suggested! Thankfully we have good ties to France if we need to go 21-14. Thanks again you have given me some hope 🌞

Hello,
I wonder if anyone can help. My son has recently been refused the right to claim French Nationality through me (under a 50 year 'disuse' rule) though I am French, have a birth cert and passport etc. I know I registered with the French Consulate in London when I was 18 and therefore this 50 year rule cannot apply. Even though I have been in contact with them sorting out my files etc on numerous occasions and still have all my family in France thankfully (as well as a long established home). I have always worked and paid taxes here but obviously have long established links with France (my mother lives in the house she was born in and her mother before that, in France) it seem this detail is blocking me. How many times I have been in and out of that office in London and no one ever thought to say anything about renewing my registration with them etc. I think he can appeal and I am trying to find my NUMIC so I can hold the consulat to account. Does anyone have any experience of this or have any advice whatsoever to offer? Thank you!

Hi - Did you keep any of your old passports/IDs? You can send copies of those to show you held elements of possession d'état while living abroad. I don't know how old you are, but I was able to get archival copies of my grandmother's consular registrations from the 1960s from the Centre des Archives diplomatiques de Nantes. I emailed archives.cadn@diplomatie.gouv.fr and asked for documents like consular inscription, passport and ID requests. They originally refused me saying I had to request état civil documents from the SCEC, but I clarified I was not looking for those documents, but rather the records that show elements of possession d'état and then they found 3 records of consular registration. On those forms, she listed my father, so I'm hoping this will help my own CNF case.

Did you ever register your marriage? If so, get a copy of your French marriage certificate (you can request this on service-public.fr). That is also proof of possession d'état.

Hope that helps. If your son can't work it out, he can try to declare through Article 21-14, but he will have to prove significant ties to France to do so.

Thank you so much for this ! This gives me some hope. Thankfully we do have good ties to France if we need to go the 21-14 route. Thanks again, this is invaluable 🌞

 

Hi Bonfire- did you have any luck?
I am embarking on a quest for my CNF and my best 50y proof is a consular card from my french parent..

 

You may want to post over on the France forum. There has been quite a bit of discussion about applying for CNF from outside France and we seem to have a few folks over there who have some direct knowledge and experience with the process.

 

Oh! Great news!
I did engage an attorney in France and we have plenty of good documentation and they feels fairly confident that we have satisfied the requirements of the law.
The application is about to be submitted!!
I am appreciative of the update and congratulations!
I will update …

 

We have just weeks after submission received a request for more documents and information.
1. My father’s birth certificate (foreign country) which due to where he was born will be challenging to obtain. He is not the french parent so while this is not a required document it is often requested.
2. any more contact for me and the french… anything. We have only the Livret, the french passport (>50y which was the stumbling block) and my official french BC.
i am working on getting dad’s BC but could take some time, also not a Hague country so not sure what drama that will cause. At one point I had emailed lawyers in that country listed on embassy website but no replies. Dad used it in a banana republic for other official papers and they list the original, no bribing would locate it back many years ago.
The request for more documents exceeds the law so they don’t feel this should be a barrier. My application meets criteria under the law as it stands today.
They worried they may request some weird documents but so far just this. Hoping I can get it in a timely fashion. Some countries are just not set up for foreigners being born there and needing stuff.

Appreciate your follow up. Updating here for anyone else.

@Bonfire I am interested in locating what I believe are some ancestral CNF’s granted in about 1919- can you explain if your resource above would be a starting place for that? It feels daunting for such old records. They were living in Paris at the time, I even have some addresses and know which arondisment.

 

Hello,
Nantes is where they keep all archives and they are very helpful archives.cadn@diplomatie.gouv.fr
In my experience they also answer very quickly. They also can provide names of people you can hire to go and search boxes of documents for you, who do this for a living and know their way around. It didn’t cost much either. This is how I found what I needed. I wish you all the very best in your search. If it hadn’t been for this forum, I wouldn’t have known about the importance of Nantes.

 

Hello,
Nantes is where they keep all archives and they are very helpful archives.cadn@diplomatie.gouv.fr
In my experience they also answer very quickly. They also can provide names of people you can hire to go and search boxes of documents for you, who do this for a living and know their way around. It didn’t cost much either. This is how I found what I needed. I wish you all the very best in your search. If it hadn’t been for this forum, I wouldn’t have known about the importance of Nantes.

Thanks