French citizenship---PhD

[lledd]

I would help me a great deal in my career if I could aquire EU citizenship.
Looking at Wikipedia, it says under naturalisation that : # The residence period is reduced to two years for those who are graduates of a French university or grande école

Does this mean if I finish my PhD in France, I am eligable for the citizenship?

[Bob_for_short]

Yes, it does. But make sure the legislation has not changed since.

[cristo]

You know, questions like this really get to me. You are here pretty much admitting that the only reason you want to become a French citizen is so you can get a passport, and thus get a job in the future, presumably in a country outside of France and your own country. Whatever happened to obtaining citizenship of a country because you respected the values of the nation, and wanted to show your loyalty to that country?

[lledd]

You know, questions like this really get to me. You are here pretty much admitting that the only reason you want to become a French citizen is so you can get a passport, and thus get a job in the future, presumably in a country outside of France and your own country. Whatever happened to obtaining citizenship of a country because you respected the values of the nation, and wanted to show your loyalty to that country?

And who says that I dont respect the values of the nation, or that that I will be working outside of France. And why do you presume that I would as physicist in any way contribute less to the prosperity of France than the common Frenchmen?
Besides, try being a third country citizen and pursue any kind of carrier with EU and US restrictions making you have less rights that cattle.

[MATLABdude]

You want French/EU citizenship? Want to quash questions of your loyalty and/or dedication?
http://www.legion-recrute.com/en/

"Service guarantees citizenship! Would you like to know more?"
-Starship Troopers (the movie)

[hamster143]

You are here pretty much admitting that the only reason you want to become a French citizen is so you can get a passport, and thus get a job in the future, presumably in a country outside of France

I don't know about France, but here in the U.S., the only jobs that require citizenship (as opposed to permanent residency) are defense companies, requiring security clearance. I fail to see how French citizenship could help one to get a job outside France.

[Vanadium 50]

I fail to see how French citizenship could help one to get a job outside France.

A passport from any EU country gives one the right to work in any EU country.

Funny that MATLAMATLABdude mentioned la Légion étrangère. I thought the exact same thing! It's not a path many choose, but it certainly lets one earn one's citizenship. Emphasis on earn. “Français par le sang versé” is not the easiest path to citizenship.

[MATLABdude]

A passport from any EU country gives one the right to work in any EU country.

Funny that MATLAMATLABdude mentioned la Légion étrangère. I thought the exact same thing! It's not a path many choose, but it certainly lets one earn one's citizenship. Emphasis on earn. “Français par le sang versé” is not the easiest path to citizenship.

Great minds, and all that! Not sure who that MATLAMATLABdude character is, but I'll gladly steal his sardonic comments! :biggrin:

EDIT: That's odd, there are Google wordsense ads on that page! Guess it could pay the hosting costs...

[Bob_for_short]

I encourage this guy to do his best to arrive at a better life.

You know, science is very international thing. It is a heritage of the whole mankind. And students feel this - they are more cosmopolitans rather than nationals.

I myself come from the USSR. I was invited to work in France for two years for a state establishment (1999). After that contract, despite a lot of work for me and lack of specialists, the company could not prolong the contract because I was not French. It was a very strange, irrational situation. Fortunately, a private subcontracting firm hired me and I continued to work for the same state establishment at the same working place. Five years later I applied for French citizenship and obtained it in a routine way.
Nobody is unhappy about my working in France; on the contrary, I've helped out many projects.
And before getting invited in France I was dying in degrading Russia. I suffered a lot because of impossibility to overcome the inter-country barriers: all job markets were closed to me.

[vanesch]

I would help me a great deal in my career if I could aquire EU citizenship.
Looking at Wikipedia, it says under naturalisation that : # The residence period is reduced to two years for those who are graduates of a French university or grande école

Does this mean if I finish my PhD in France, I am eligable for the citizenship?

I don't know all the details - I just browsed around a bit. The delay is the time necessary to be able to deposit your file at the prefecture. But that doesn't mean that you will automatically have a positive answer, far from it. The fact of having been a student in France will not automatically lead to you getting the french nationality - especially now that France has rendered its immigration politics somewhat more severe. What that delay only indicates is that you can legally ask for it (below the delay, the answer would be automatically "no"). I don't know exactly what are the criteria that are used to say "yes", but of course the more solid your file, the higher the chances, so probably it would be better to find a job first. If you have a job, if you "integrated" (you speak french for instance),... for a certain time, I would think that your chances are higher than if you were a student asking for citizenship. Although cristo may have formulated his answer in a somewhat unfortunate way, I would also guess that if you asked french citizenship as a student, the suspicion would also be that you are just "fishing for a EU passport", while if you would wait somewhat, show that you have a job and everything, I would guess that your chances of getting a yes are higher. I think that in the end, you will always be suspended at the decision of some or other administrative agent, because you don't fall into any "automatic" category (marriage, birth, adoption....). On the other hand, I've heard on the radio that France is still one of the most "easy" countries in the EU to distribute citizenship. So good luck !

[DanP]

I don't know about France, but here in the U.S., the only jobs that require citizenship (as opposed to permanent residency) are defense companies, requiring security clearance. I fail to see how French citizenship could help one to get a job outside France.

Hamster143,

One of the basic principles of EU is the "single market. This means free circulation of goods, capital, people and services .

Being a citizen of a state which is member of the EU gains you the statute of "EU citizenship", which exists only associated with the national citizenship of a state which is member of the union. In effect, you gain access to the single market. You effectively can choose to live and work **anywhere** in the union as a result.

[lledd]

I don't know all the details - I just browsed around a bit. The delay is the time necessary to be able to deposit your file at the prefecture. But that doesn't mean that you will automatically have a positive answer, far from it. The fact of having been a student in France will not automatically lead to you getting the french nationality - especially now that France has rendered its immigration politics somewhat more severe. What that delay only indicates is that you can legally ask for it (below the delay, the answer would be automatically "no"). I don't know exactly what are the criteria that are used to say "yes", but of course the more solid your file, the higher the chances, so probably it would be better to find a job first. If you have a job, if you "integrated" (you speak french for instance),... for a certain time, I would think that your chances are higher than if you were a student asking for citizenship. Although cristo may have formulated his answer in a somewhat unfortunate way, I would also guess that if you asked french citizenship as a student, the suspicion would also be that you are just "fishing for a EU passport", while if you would wait somewhat, show that you have a job and everything, I would guess that your chances of getting a yes are higher. I think that in the end, you will always be suspended at the decision of some or other administrative agent, because you don't fall into any "automatic" category (marriage, birth, adoption....). On the other hand, I've heard on the radio that France is still one of the most "easy" countries in the EU to distribute citizenship. So good luck !


Thank you for your answer.