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:
“Since the French Revolution Englishmen are all intermeasurable one by another, certainly a happy state of agreement to which I for one do not agree.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“Rarely do American parents deliberately teach their children to hate members of another racial, religious, or nationality group. Many parents, however, communicate the prevailing racial attitudes to their children in subtle and sometimes unconscious ways.”
—Kenneth MacKenzie Clark (20th century)
“In our day the conventional element in literature is elaborately disguised by a law of copyright pretending that every work of art is an invention distinctive enough to be patented.”
—Northrop Frye (b. 1912)