French Citizenship through marriage - Timelines and Challanges

[SouthFrenchie]

South African applied for french Citizenship through marriage. major challange was the long lead times to obtain the documents from South African Home office, have them apostilled and translated and then have all the documents submitted to be within the 3 month validity period. It led to me having to apply for documents several times. I used Lexidy to assist me in the application, and they were absolutely fantastic and I would not have been able to complete the process without them.

Here is my timeline and an indiction how events unfolded:

26/04/2022: Start engagement with immigration lawyers (Lexidy).

08/12/2022: Submission of the documents to french Embassy.

07/01/2023: All documents returned, application declared incomplete. Reason for incompleteness is that proof of spouse's French nationality is insufficient. We submitted the application with my wife's French Passport and French Birth Certifficate, however the birth certificate did not state she was French. Lexidy did indicate that this could be a problem and advised us beforehand that we may have to apply for a CNF for my wife.

27/03/2023: Submit CNF application. In the meantime I had to collect all my South African and Brtish documents again as they have expired in terms of the 3 month validity rule. It was an administrative nightmare.

31/03/2023: Resubmit French Citizenship Application with proof of CNF application. This was a gamble as they may return the application without the CNF being issued.

12/04/2023: Email from french Consultate that the application for french Nationality is again incomplete. New requirements on documentation were demanded. Although the documents were mostly the same, some of the requirements are now different. The biggest issue was related to my South African Divorce Decree, in that the embassy required an apostilled and translated decree, with the aposille containing the name of the Officer of the Court, rather than the notary that verified the copy. Small detail, but in terms of administration in South Africa, a major issue. We were given a 3 month deadline to resubmit the documents.

12/05/2023: Due to the extreme timelines it takes to get anything from South Africa, Lexidy requests an extention from the embassy. A few days later the embassy responds and say that the deadline is lifted, but all documents must be valid at time of receipt.

03/10/2023: Receipt of my wife's CNF.

07/11/2023: All documents received and verified against new requirements from embassy. All documents are less than 3 month old as well. It also seems that the French Government extended the validiity period of some documents to 6 months, which gave me some breathing space.

08/11/2023: All documents submitted again.

21/11/2023: Invitation for interview at French Consulate in London.

06/12/2023: Inteview at French Consulate. This was extremely stressful, as my wife, a French Citizen, does not speak French. I am a fluent speaker though.

10/05/2024: Email: nationalité française par déclaration.

16/05/2023: Email: Consulat général de France à Londres - NATIONALITÉ FRANÇAISE - Cérémonie et demande de passeport.

30/05/2024: Citizenship Ceremony at French Consulate. Appplied for passport and national id card on the same day. Was super quick and efficient.

If you have any questions or are going through a similar process, feel free to ask me anything.