Haven't done it myself, but from what I hear, if you're a frontalier, working in CH, it's very difficult. (Though it may be easier if you can prove that you are active in the local community.)

Adam,

I went through this process many years ago. Putting together the required documentation is the first hurdle. You will then be invited to a meeting with their secret police force (renseignement généraux). My meeting was quite funny. I was invited to a normal residency apartment and the police officer was dressed in jeans, a fisherman's jumper and had his feet on the table through-out the meeting.

He was much more interested in what PC to buy (I was in the I.T. industry then) but eventually he asked me why I wanted to become French. I mumbled something about wanting to be integrated into French society and he acted as if he wasn't interested at all.

A few weeks later I received my French nationality which had a 'personal' letter from Jacques Chirac with all the duties and responsibilites of being French.

I then sent my birth certificate to Nantes and I also now have a French birth certificate.

The bottom-line is that everything goes very smoothly if you make sure that you provide them with all the documentation that they want up front.

Hope this helps a little and PM me if you have further questions.

David

Thank you so much for sharing your experience, David.

Regards,

Caroline

Not yet us, but a good friend applied and had her interview recently firstly in Annecy, our regional capital and then in Grenoble, capital of our province. She made certain she had everything in duplicate, all original documentation in place, everything stamped by and at the local Mairie, profound knowledge of French culture, French history from Jeanne d'Arc onwards. Her interview was tough she said, with unexpected questions regarding recent political history and politicians. The interviewer brings up questions at random by pressing a button on her computer so that there can be no unfair favouritism for any nationality.

Our friend felt fairly drained by this lengthy procedure, and now has to wait 18 months until she will be notified whether she has been granted citizenship or not = she's British.

We however, decided to go for the Carte de Sejour Permanente : the forms were sent to us on-line [but the wrong ones, which we did not find out until attending the interview]. Therefore our dossier did not contain original birth certificates, marriage certificate and [interesting this] declaration from the Bureau des Impots that our taxes were paid and up to date. When the interviewer asked where were these forms, we explained that the forms we had been sent were different from what she required [her fault BTW].

After some 20 minutes and her confirmation that we could not send photogcopies to her by email, we said "there hardly seems much point from what you have told us" to which she whispered "actually no, there isn't much point in all this" which was a revelation to say the least.

Whatever you decide, good luck, not for the faint-hearted.

Thanks you very much,Sheila.

This is good experience from all sides - and it's good to be informed.

Best regards,

Caroline

Adam,

It's simple for your interview. You need to be knowledgeable about the Dassault Aviation Rafale. When a pan-European initiative to design the Eurofighter Typhoon at 20B pounds was launched, France typically would have no part of it! Their answer is the Rafale which is the one of the few aircraft capable of launching a nuclear bomb.

Appeal to French pride and you'll be fine.

David

Is french compulsory for EU nationals??

Yes.

Thanks for all the replies. 

I am reasonably confident about the paperwork, language requirement, interviews and so on. My main concern relates to tawb's point about being a frontalier. The official French government page talks about 'insertion professionelle' which seems to be a bit of a stumbling block for us.

Does anyone know of anyone who has succeeded in getting naturalisation while a frontalier?

Would be lovely, super, fantastic, amazing.........if the folks who kindly said Thank You, would also press the button......

Being a frontalier is only a big plus. I was a frontalier when my request for nationality went through very smoothly. As a frontalier you are directly contributing to the French coffers as part of your salary ends up in their hands.