French Citizenship by Marriage in 2026 (Declaration)
How marriage to a French citizen leads to nationality through a declaration: the four-year rule, the new B2 language requirement, the fee, and how the timeline works.
Marrying a French citizen does not make you French. It opens a route to French nationality, but through a separate procedure with its own rules. That route is a declaration, not naturalisation by decree, and the difference shapes everything: a different timeline, a different decision-maker, and a different set of conditions. This post sets out how the marriage route works in 2026 and where it differs from the standard residence route.
A declaration, not naturalisation by decree
The standard route to French citizenship, naturalisation by decree, is the residence route covered elsewhere on this blog. It needs five years in France, a civic exam, and a discretionary decision by the administration. The marriage route is different. It is an acquisition by declaration, which means that if you meet the conditions, you have a right to acquire nationality, subject to the government's power to refuse registration or to oppose your acquisition.
Two practical consequences follow. First, the marriage route does not require the five-year residence period. Second, the civic exam introduced in January 2026 does not apply to the marriage declaration. It is a condition of naturalisation by decree, not of declarations.
The conditions
The core condition is the marriage itself and the shared life behind it. You must have been married for at least four years, with a continuous community of life, both emotional and material, from the date of the marriage. This period rises to five years in certain cases, for example where the foreign spouse cannot prove three years of continuous residence in France since the marriage, or where the marriage was not registered on the French consular registers. Your French spouse must have kept their French nationality throughout.
Language is now a key condition. Since January 2026, the spouse making the declaration must prove a B2 level of French, covering both speaking and writing, the same level that applies to naturalisation by decree. This is a rise from the previous B1 standard, so older guidance on the marriage route is out of date on this point.
Where you file and what it costs
In France, the declaration is filed through the official nationality platform, with the exact entry point depending on where you live. From abroad, it is filed with the French consulate. The procedure carries the same droit de timbre as other nationality applications, the timbre fiscal that rose to 255 euros on 1 May 2026.
How the timeline works
The timeline on the marriage route is structured differently from naturalisation by decree. After you file a complete declaration, the government has one year to refuse to register it. Separately, the government can oppose your acquisition of nationality by decree within two years, for reasons such as a lack of assimilation. If neither happens, your declaration is registered and your acquisition stands. This is why the marriage route is described as a declaration with a right to acquire, rather than a discretionary grant.
Check your case
The marriage route has more conditional details than most, particularly around proving the community of life and the residence history. The summary here is general. Confirm the conditions and the current document list for your situation on service-public.fr, and consider a qualified adviser if anything about your case is unusual.
If you are heading instead toward naturalisation by decree, the civic exam is the condition you can prepare for now. PassCitizen has the full official civic question set with practice mode and timed mock exams, free and with no account required.
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