Civic Exam for French Nationality: The Decree Has Been Published!

The civic exam for French nationality, introduced by the 2024 law, is about to come into effect. As a final parting gesture by the former Minister of the Interior, it partially amends the 1993 decree that sets out the various procedures for acquiring French nationality. Although relatively unknown, this decree is in fact the backbone of naturalization applications by decree issued by the public authority. Since the civic exam is set out in Article 37 of that same decree, it therefore does not apply to applications for acquisition of French nationality by declaration (marriage, siblings of French citizens, etc.).

The order of 10 October 2025, entitled “relating to the syllabus, the tests and the organizational procedures of the civic exam – NOR: INTV2527907A”, establishes the framework for this civic examination. Although not the focus of this article, the civic exam will also apply to applicants for multi-year residence permits and the resident card.

The “assimilation interview” (which served a similar purpose) was not based on a fixed number or percentage of correct answers. The idea was simply that the applicant should be able to correctly answer as many questions as possible, with a certain tolerance. With the civic exam, this is no longer the case: the system becomes far more binary—80% correct answers.

The test will be structured as follows: 40 multiple-choice questions, and to pass, the applicant must correctly answer 80% of them. A correct answer is worth 1 point; an incorrect answer or lack of answer is worth 0.

The French nationality civic exam will cover five themes:

1. Principles and values of the Republic: 11 questions

2. Institutional and political system: 6 questions

3. Rights and duties: 11 questions

4. History, geography and culture: 8 questions

5. Living in French society: 4 questions

A foreign applicant wishing to become French will therefore have to answer all of these questions. They will have 45 minutes to complete the test, which will be taken on a digital device. The civic exam will take place in an examination center alongside several other candidates. In case of cheating or fraud, the applicant will be prohibited from retaking the exam for two years (and therefore from acquiring French nationality).

One potential advantage (if any) is that there will be no discretionary assessment by a Préfecture officer: only the applicant’s answers will be taken into account, which may suggest greater neutrality. This will change nothing afterwards, since the assimilation interview will have the exact same purpose as the civic exam.

Probably not, because the successful result will be part of the required documents for the application. Therefore, an applicant who fails the test simply will not be able to submit their file, meaning that no “refusal” will be issued. It is unlikely to lengthen the processing times, especially since these only begin after the application has been submitted.

In reality, this test completely duplicates the assimilation interview. A person may very well pass the civic exam and later fail the assimilation interview. Once again, this new measure mainly serves to claim that “something has been done” (against what exactly, one may wonder, since the naturalization procedure by decree is not exactly easy). But since the acquisition of French nationality is not a right, it is difficult to challenge the legitimacy of this measure, as the State has the legal basis to implement it.