I just wanted to say Congratulations and Félicitations !! to two ladies who have gained dual citizenship. I am extremely happy and excited for them.  They worked very hard for this and survived the year-long application process. They give me hope that I’ll be able to become a dual citizen one day too.

+ Erica is American, and now French, as of April 21st.

+ Zhu is French, and will be Canadian on July 3rd.

To become a French citizen, you have to wait two years if you are working toward or have completed a graduate degree at a French university; four years if you are married to a French citizen and lived in France for all four years (otherwise, it is five years if you do not live in France); or five years if you have lived and worked in France continuously (sometimes a CDI is required though.)

You can also apply for the 10 year carte de résident (instead of the 1 year carte de séjour year after year…) if you have been married to a French citizen for three years or if you’ve lived in France continuously for three years, but you have to prove your “worthiness” to the préfecture and have the mayor of your town approve it. And of course, some préfectures require five years and a minimum salary of something like 11,000 € for each year spent in France. (Don’t you just love how something as important as your legal status in France is completely random depending on where you live?

I haven’t asked my préfecture yet what their requirements are for the carte de résident. I have lived in France since September 2006, but until March 2008, I was on a travailleur temporaire card, so those don’t really count for anything. Maybe in March 2011 I can apply for it if I can convince them that there should be no legal difference between marriage and PACS. In any case, I’m hoping to apply for French citizenship once I’m a few years into my PhD, which I will hopefully start in 2010.

Zhu is doing a series of posts on immigrating to Canada, so check out her blog if you’re interested.