French citizens

French nationality law is historically based on the principles of jus soilo (Latin for "right of soil"), according to Ernest Renan's definition, in opposition to the German definition of nationality, jus sanguinis (Latin for "right of blood"), formalized by Johann Gottlieb Fichte.

The 1993 Méhaignerie Law required children born in France of foreign parents to request French nationality at adulthood, rather than being automatically accorded citizenship. This "manifestation of will" requirement was subsequently abrogated by the Guigou Law of 1998, but children born in France of foreign parents remain foreign until obtaining legal majority.

Children born in France to tourists or other short-term visitors do not acquire French citizenship by virtue of birth in France: residency must be proven. Since immigration became increasingly a political theme in the 1980s, albeit accompanied by a lower immigration rate (see Demographics in France), both left-wing and right-wing governments have issued several laws restricting the possibilities of being naturalized.

French nationality and citizenship were concepts that existed even before the French Revolution.

There are three key dates in the legal history of naturalization:

Military service and state education were two processes central to the creation of a common national culture. Military conscription (universal from 1872, in theory if not in practice) brought inhabitants of the state's regions together for the first time, creating bonds of friendship and encouraging the use of French rather than regional languages. Universal education (the aim of the Jules Ferry Laws, 1879–1886) brought the whole of the population into contact with state-sanctioned version of French history and identity. State teachers, the "Black hussars of the Republic," conveyed the national language to the people of the regions.

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