Immigration: Children born in France to foreign parents may not have automatic nationality

The French interior minister has said he is considering abolishing the automatic right of French citizenship to children born in France to foreign parents, as part of changes to wider migration issues.

Bruno Retailleau made the announcement about the rule, which is known as the principle of ‘jus soli’, on Sunday, January 19, speaking on the BFM Politique TV programme.

He said: “There must not be ‘automaticity’ [an automatic right]. It must be a voluntary act.”

This would revert the current rules to those of 1993 ‘Pasqua law’. This stated that minors born in France to foreign parents who had a residence permit were required to make a voluntary declaration before they could acquire French nationality at the age of 18. Obtaining French nationality was not automatic.

This law was later abolished under Lionel Jospin’s government.

Mr Retailleau added that he would “also like” to abolish the right of legal residence in mainland France for those born in the overseas territory of Mayotte. However, he did say that “the political conditions” for this had “not yet been met”.

The current laws for nationality in France 

Those born in France to non-citizen parents can currently gain citizenship from the age of 13, if they fulfil a number of requirements. 

However, unlike many countries which only use the rule of jus soli (right of birth on land) to bestow citizenship, French nationality rules also include the jus sanguinis (right of blood). This means that citizenship can also be obtained if you can prove you have ‘French blood’.

This rule only goes back one generation in France, however. This means that either one or both of your parents needs or needed to have held French citizenship in order for this to apply.

Read also: Can a person get French citizenship if their parents were French?
Read more: How to get French citizenship – the 2024 requirements 
Read also: New tougher French language rules for immigration: who is affected? 

Review of immigration medical law

The announcements on nationality came as part of announcements about other immigration issues, including the aide médicale d’Etat (AME). 

The AME is a scheme that provides medical care for foreign nationals who:

• Do not have legal residence in France

• Have been in the country for more than three months

• Do not qualify for normal state healthcare

• Cannot afford their own medical care

The minister said he intended to “change” the scheme, as part of the PLFSS (projet de loi de financement de la Sécurité sociale, social security financing bill).

Mr Retailleau said: “Yes, we should have emergency aid, because we are not going to let people die in the streets. [But] we can't ask French people to work hard and make an effort, and not ask those foreigners who are illegal immigrants to do the same.”

He said that he was waiting for the conclusions of the Evin-Stefanini report, in which two politicians advocated making changes to the “basket of care” accessible under the AME scheme. The report was submitted at the end of 2023, but delayed by the 2024 summer dissolution.

Yet, the authors of the report - former minister Claude Evin (Socialist Party) and prefect Patrick Stefanini (Les Républicains) - did say that the AME scheme played a central role in preventing the deterioration in the health of illegal immigrants, and the spread of disease to the population as a whole.

In contrast, politicians on the right and far-right are calling for the AME to be significantly reduced, or abolished completely. Left-wing and centrist politicians tend to support the scheme.

In December 2024 the Senate approved plans to reduce the AME budget by €200 million, out of a total of €1.3 billion.

Intention for ‘France to be in bottom half of European countries’

Overall, the minister said he did not want French laws on illegal immigration to be more generous than other European countries, in a bid to thwart dangerous smugglers.

“I do not want France to be further ahead, or more generous than, other European countries when it comes to all our social systems,” he said. “If we are above the average for Europeans in terms of health care, social assistance and family reunification, the networks of smugglers will direct the flows towards France.

“My strategy is to be in the bottom half of European countries.”