I’m American and in America, anyone can be American (well, that’s what they say). I was born in South East Asia but I know heart of hearts, I’m American. Does the same apply to the French? I saw an interview with Dan Crenshaw (right leaning congressman from Texas) saying that anyone can be American but that doesn’t apply to any other country and he used [France](https://youtu.be/2LJ8nBgEA2Q) as an example and thought, “this can’t be true!”. I have heard Macron say otherwise. Is this true? No one can be French unless you’re born or your lineage is French? Does not the saying “Français par le sang versé” not apply?

Seriously curious.

12 comments

  6. That’s a complicated issue. The quick answer is that everyone can be French just like in the US.

    Why this wrong impression ? The perception of the opposite is (in my opinion) due to the fact that american perpetuate a twisted image of France and the French. They assume that French culture is uniform and that French population is 100% white. That is simply not true, in particular in cities like Paris which are cosmopolitan, as much if not more than many american cities. *Emily in Paris* is the perfect example of this phenomenom.

    The long answer is that it’s complicated. To dumb things down I think that we can simplify by saying that you have to do more to be considered French, but once you’re considered French you are much more “equal” compared to other French. This is because “race” are officially banned and even when you are not bound by these law talking about the existence of “race” is extremely tabou for example.

    If you are a black person you will be considered a black american, and if you move in a white neighboorhood you will probably lower land value. So it’s easier to be “american” (you don’t have to concede nearly as much culturally compared to being “french”) but even if you are american you may be far from being considered equal to another american.

    Nicolas Sarkozy for example has foreign parents but that doesn’t stop him to be consider fully French by right-wing voters in France. In skilled jobs origin is not an issue and it will generally be easy to integrate too. Things tend to get more complicated if you have lower paying job or income because you’ll be more likely to be locked into immigrants neighboorhood which make integration harder, but this issue is just as bad if not worse in the US.

    Overall the situation and the issues are fairly similar, the difference is just that in a way France has higher standard for integration with higher benefits (which is not necessarily a good thing because they will miss a lot of people with those standards). France also has a weird image overseas and has many stances on issues like secularism and citizenship which are very unique which mean that it will create more friction.

    But for the same level of recognition, being french and american is just as easy/difficult.

    (Wow I realised this was a long comment)

  8. Anyone can become French, yes.
    But it doesn’t mean it’s easy. You’ll have to live and work lawfully in France for 10 years.

    Or have lived and been schooled in France for about the same time, then at your 18th birthday you’ll have the right to claim your citizenship.

    (You can also enlist in the Légion étrangère, serve for a few years to get the citizenship, that’s a bit more dangerous)

    You can’t just buy your nationality (like in some other countries). Our way is more egalitarian, as there is no real shortcut, same rule for everyone, whatever your position in the society.

    By the way, I believe most European countries allow people from other countries to get another citizenship with some different but similar rules. Saying the USA is the only country to do that just shows how uncultured this guy is. (Or how his electors are)

  11. Well, if IRMC the three americans who stopped the attentat in the Thallys (train) became french. It’s just an example.

    You can ask to be french, through regular institution. So, you can be french with birthright, blood law, wedding, naturalization. *There is another way it’s called “possession d’état” but I don’t know how to translate it.*

    With specific condition “Français par le sang versé” applies when you protect France and you are injured, the french nationality will be offered.

  12. Rule of thumb: Anytime an American says “America is the only country that X,” it isn’t, really. At least not for any social facts like this one.

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