French nationality law is historically based on the principles of jus soli (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 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.
As in most industrialized countries, but unlike the United States, children born in France to tourists or short-term visitors do not acquire French citizenship by virtue of birth in France: residency must be proven. As 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.
Read more about French Nationality Law: Attribution of French Nationality, List of Past Colonies/territories, French Citizenship and Identity, Dual Citizenship, Citizenship of The European Union, Denaturalisation
Famous quotes containing the words french, nationality and/or law:
“It was not reason that besieged Troy; it was not reason that sent forth the Saracen from the desert to conquer the world; that inspired the crusades; that instituted the monastic orders; it was not reason that produced the Jesuits; above all, it was not reason that created the French Revolution. Man is only great when he acts from the passions; never irresistible but when he appeals to the imagination.”
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)
“If nationality is consent, the state is compulsion.”
—Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821–1881)
“I had often stood on the banks of the Concord, watching the lapse of the current, an emblem of all progress, following the same law with the system, with time, and all that is made ... and at last I resolved to launch myself on its bosom and float whither it would bear me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)