Naturalisation processing time: the legal deadline from your receipt
Enter the month of your receipt: the response deadline can be calculated, unlike the per-prefecture waiting times no official source publishes.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
Legal response deadline for your application
Answer due by
1 August 2027
| Applicable period | 18 months |
| With the extension | 1 November 2027 |
| Possible extension | 3 months, once |
The only official naturalisation processing time in France is the legal response deadline: the administration has at most 18 months from the date it issues your receipt (récépissé) to answer an application for naturalisation or reinstatement. The deadline falls to 12 months if you show at least ten years of habitual residence in France on the day the receipt is issued. It can be extended once, by 3 months, through a reasoned decision. For a receipt dated 2 November 2026, the answer is due by 2 May 2028, or 2 August 2028 with the extension; with ten years of residence, by 2 November 2027. The receipt is only issued once your file is complete, so the time spent gathering documents does not count. The "per prefecture" timetables circulating online come from forums and contradict each other; no prefecture or naturalisation platform publishes an average. Citizenship through marriage follows other rules: 1 year to refuse registration, 2 years if the Government objects.
The deadline the law sets
The official naturalisation-by-decree page, checked on 16 July 2026, is explicit: the administration has at most 18 months from the date it issues the receipt to answer. The period is cut to 12 months if you have lived habitually in France for at least ten years on the day the receipt is issued. It can be extended once by 3 months, with a reasoned decision. The same applies to naturalisation and to reinstatement (réintégration) in French nationality, under decree no. 93-1362 of 30 December 1993.
| Applicant (receipt dated 2 November 2026) | Residence on the receipt date | Answer due by | With extension |
|---|---|---|---|
| Settled on 15 June 2020 | under 10 years | 2 May 2028 | 2 August 2028 |
| Settled on 1 March 2016 | 10 years or more | 2 November 2027 | 2 February 2028 |
| Settled on 1 December 2016 | under 10 years | 2 May 2028 | 2 August 2028 |
The third case shows the threshold effect: one month either way switches the deadline between 12 and 18 months. If you are close to ten years, it can be worth knowing before you pick a filing date; the naturalisation calculator compares both from your own dates.
What happens before the receipt
The clock does not run while the file is incomplete. After you file online, the case officer may ask for further documents or formalities and sets a deadline to provide them. Miss it and the file can be closed without examination (classé sans suite), so you start again. The receipt is issued only once everything is in. The surest way to bring the response deadline forward is to send a complete file from the start, translations and tax statement included.
During the examination
Between the receipt and the decision come the assimilation interview at the prefecture, if the application is admissible, and checks on your civic conduct and criminal record. If you filed online, you follow every step in your personal account and receive an email at each change. Any change of situation (address, marriage, job) is declared as it happens; it does not restart the legal deadline, but a file that no longer reflects your situation can be postponed.
The official page does not say what happens if the administration lets the deadline pass without answering, so we do not claim anything. What is known is that the answer can be approval, rejection or postponement (ajournement), with a period to wait before applying again.
After the decision: decree, ceremony, appeals
If approved, the decree is published in the Official Journal and takes effect on the date it is signed. The official page on the welcome ceremony says the ceremony is in principle held within six months of the decree’s publication. The decree can still be withdrawn for two years if the conditions were not met.
If refused, the deadlines are strict. For a refusal notified on 1 March 2028:
| Step | Period | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Compulsory administrative appeal to the minister | 2 months after notification | 1 May 2028 |
| Minister’s silence counts as rejection (appeal sent on the last day) | 4 months after receipt | 1 September 2028 |
| Appeal to the administrative court in Nantes | 2 months after the rejection | 1 November 2028 |
Citizenship through marriage runs on different deadlines
For the spouse of a French national there is no decree, only registration. According to the official page on the declaration by marriage, if a condition is missing, the platform sends the file to the ministry with a reasoned opinion within six months of the declaration, so before 2 May 2027 for a declaration made on 2 November 2026. The ministry has 1 year from the receipt given after the interview to refuse registration, 2 years if it objects: until 2 November 2027 or 2 November 2028 in this example. See the marriage-declaration calculator.
A complete timetable, end to end
Take someone settled in France since 15 June 2020 who receives the receipt on 2 November 2026. The administration must answer by 2 May 2028. If it extends the examination with a reasoned decision, the limit moves to 2 August 2028. If the answer is yes, the decree appears in the Official Journal and the ceremony follows, in principle, within six months; you can then apply for a French identity card and passport. If the answer is no, the appeal timetable above starts from the day of notification, and every step after that also has a date you can work out in advance. In other words, each stage of the route has a calculable limit; only the actual time the platform takes inside those limits remains unknown, and it varies from one file to the next. Planning a move, a job change or a trip abroad around these limits is therefore possible, as long as you keep declaring any change of situation in your online account.
What we do not publish
No average per département, no approval rate, no "actual observed time": no official source supports them, and online figures vary twofold from one site to the next. This is information, not legal advice, from a site independent of the administration. To follow a file sent by post, only the sub-directorate for access to French nationality (sous-direction de l’accès à la nationalité française) can tell you where it stands.