The brown envelope from the prefecture, or the notification in your online file, says no — or not yet. For a British citizen settled in France after Brexit, that single decision can feel like the end of the road: months of gathering payslips, tax notices, language diplomas and criminal-record extracts, an interview in French at the platform, then a refusal or a two-year delay. It is not the end of the road. French nationality by decree is, by statute, a favour the administration grants rather than a right it owes, and the courts say so openly — but the same law organises precise ways to answer back: a reasoned decision you can dissect, a two-month window to appeal to the minister, a second two-month window before the administrative court in Nantes, and, once a delay expires or your circumstances genuinely change, the right to file a new, stronger application. This guide, written for British readers, explains how to read the decision you received, which remedy matches your situation, and how to rebuild the weak points — residence, income, language, conduct — so the next file succeeds. Every rule below is drawn from the Civil Code, the 1993 decree on naturalisation decisions, the official service-public.fr pages and three recent judgments of the Nantes administrative court of appeal, each linked so you can check it yourself. If you have not yet applied, start with our companion guide to the first application for naturalisation by decree; this article takes over where that one stops, on the day the answer arrives.

I. What the administration has just decided, and which clock is now running

The starting point is Article 21-15 of the Civil Code: “Hors le cas prévu à l’article 21-14-1 , l’acquisition de la nationalité française par décision de l’autorité publique résulte d’une naturalisation accordée par décret à la demande de l’étranger.” In plain English: naturalisation by decree is granted by the public authority in response to your request. Because it is a decision of the authority, it must be reasoned, notified, and open to challenge — and because it remains partly discretionary, the courts review it with a light touch, censuring only legal error and manifest error of assessment. Understanding which of the three possible answers you received determines everything that follows.

A. Rejection, adjournment or closure: three different doors, three different meanings

A rejection (rejet) closes your file on its merits. The last paragraph of Article 48 of Decree No. 93-1362 of 30 December 1993, as quoted word for word by the Nantes court of appeal, provides: “Si le ministre chargé des naturalisations estime qu’il n’y a pas lieu d’accorder la naturalisation ou la réintégration sollicitée, il prononce le rejet de la demande. Il peut également en prononcer l’ajournement en imposant un délai ou des conditions. Ce délai une fois expiré ou ces conditions réalisées, il appartient à l’intéressé, s’il le juge opportun, de déposer une nouvelle demande.” A rejection says the administration sees no reason to naturalise you; an adjournment (ajournement) says not yet, and imposes a delay — commonly two years, as the cases below show — or conditions such as stabilising your employment; once that delay expires, you may file again. The official service-public.fr page puts it in everyday terms: where French nationality is not, or not yet, conceivable, your request may be denied (rejected) or deferred (adjourned), and in case of postponement, once the imposed time has passed, you can make a new request (service-public.fr, naturalisation by decree). A third outcome, closure without examination (classement sans suite), is purely procedural: your file is set aside because a document is missing, you missed the interview without good reason, or you ignored a deadline the case officer set for producing an additional paper. The same official page warns that if you do not meet the deadline the instructor sets, your file may be closed without further action, meaning it is not examined, and the closure decision states the remedies and time limits for appeal (service-public.fr, naturalisation by decree). For British applicants this three-way distinction matters enormously. A rejection on stable grounds — for example weak French, or a family life centred in Britain — calls for an appeal if the reasoning is flawed, or for a genuine rebuild before any new filing. An adjournment is an invitation with a timetable: use the two years to fix exactly what the decision criticises. A closure is neither approval nor refusal on the merits, and it is usually the fastest to repair, because you simply complete or correct the file. In each case, read the stated reasons first and the operative part second: judges decide cases on the reasons given, so your response must answer them one by one.

B. The deadlines that start running the day you are notified

Three time limits govern what happens next, and each is stated on the official page, which you should open alongside this article (service-public.fr, naturalisation by decree). First, after notification of the adverse decision you have two months to lodge a hierarchical administrative appeal to the minister responsible for naturalisations (service-public.fr, naturalisation by decree). This appeal goes to the minister, not back to the prefect, and for online files it must be lodged through the form in your personal space, otherwise it may be declared inadmissible except in case of justified technical impossibility (service-public.fr, naturalisation by decree). Second, a negative answer — or silence for four months from receipt of your appeal — gives you two months to bring court proceedings before the Administrative Court of Nantes (service-public.fr, naturalisation by decree). Silence for four months therefore counts as an implicit refusal that opens the court route. Third, before that court, the general procedural rule applies: “La juridiction ne peut être saisie que par voie de recours formé contre une décision, et ce, dans les deux mois à partir de la notification ou de la publication de la décision attaquée.” (Article R. 421-1 of the Code of Administrative Justice). And whichever court would otherwise hear your case, Parliament has centralised this litigation: “Par dérogation au second alinéa de l’article R. 312-1 , le tribunal administratif de Nantes est compétent pour connaître des recours dirigés contre les décisions du ministre chargé des naturalisations prises en application de l’ article 45 du décret n° 93-1362 du 30 décembre 1993 .” (Article R. 312-18 of the same Code). Even if you live in Paris or elsewhere in Île-de-France, your appeal belongs to Nantes — a practical point Londoners turned Parisians often discover late, when they address the wrong court and lose weeks. Two further time rules frame the administration’s own duties: it has a maximum of 18 months from the issue of the receipt to answer a naturalisation request — 12 months where the applicant shows at least ten years of habitual residence in France at the date of the receipt — extendable once by three months on reasoned grounds (service-public.fr, naturalisation by decree). If no answer arrives within those periods, seek advice promptly rather than waiting indefinitely: the absence of a decision can itself be challenged, and reviving a stalled file early is always cheaper than repairing an out-of-time appeal.

II. How to win next time: what judges uphold, and how British applicants fix it

Courts do not grant nationality themselves — every one of the recent Nantes judgments refuses the injunction to naturalise — but they annul decisions built on legal error, and their reasons draw a reliable map of what a winning file looks like. Three judgments from 2025 and 2026, each linked below, cover the three classic British weak points: money, conduct and language.

A. Money, conduct and language: the three grounds that decide British files

Start with residence, because Brexit made it the first filter. Article 21-16 of the Civil Code provides that “Nul ne peut être naturalisé s’il n’a en France sa résidence au moment de la signature du décret de naturalisation.” Article 21-17 adds the five-year qualifying period: “Sous réserve des exceptions prévues aux articles 21-18 , 21-19 et 21-20 , la naturalisation ne peut être accordée qu’à l’étranger justifiant d’une résidence habituelle en France pendant les cinq années qui précèdent le dépôt de la demande.” Two years can suffice in defined cases — a French university degree after two years of study, important services to France, or an exceptional integration record — since “Le stage mentionné à l’article 21-17 est réduit à deux ans : 1° Pour l’étranger qui a accompli avec succès deux années d’études supérieures en vue d’acquérir un diplôme délivré par une université ou un établissement d’enseignement supérieur français ; 2° Pour celui qui a rendu ou qui peut rendre par ses capacités et ses talents des services importants à la France ; 3° Pour l’étranger qui présente un parcours exceptionnel d’intégration, apprécié au regard des activités menées ou des actions accomplies dans les domaines civique, scientifique, économique, culturel ou sportif.” For British citizens, two Brexit-specific consequences follow. First, since the end of free movement you must hold a valid residence permit when you apply — the official page states plainly that a valid residence permit is required when you file — service-public.fr, naturalisation by decree — with an exemption only for EU, EEA and Swiss nationals that no longer covers Britons (service-public.fr, naturalisation by decree). A Withdrawal Agreement card, a multi-year resident card or any other current titre de séjour does the job; an expired card or a gap in permits invites refusal. If your card strategy needs tidying first, see our guide to the multi-year resident card for British residents. Second, residence means the centre of your material and family interests must lie in France: the official page warns that if you reside in France but your spouse or children reside abroad, you may be refused French nationality (service-public.fr, naturalisation by decree). British applicants who kept the family home near London while working in Paris, or whose children board in Britain, are the textbook at-risk profile: before refiling, document schooling, leases, tax residence and daily life in France until the balance clearly tips to this side of the Channel.

Income is the second filter, and the courts give the administration a wide margin. In CAA Nantes, 13 January 2026, No. 24NT03046, a prefect had adjourned a mother’s application for two years over insufficient resources; the minister confirmed, and the court upheld both, recalling that the authority enjoys a broad discretion and may weigh the applicant’s integration, occupational position and whether her resources durably cover her needs. Part-time work imposed by two small children’s health problems did not, in the judges’ eyes, excuse the shortfall. The lesson for British applicants is blunt: the official page defines professional integration as stable and sufficient income, explaining that professional integration means having stable, sufficient income to support yourself and your tax household (service-public.fr, naturalisation by decree). Freelance consultants paid from London, contractors between missions, buy-to-let landlords living on rents and early retirees drawing a UK pension should therefore file — or refile — with several years of French tax notices showing regular, declared, sufficient income, plus employment contracts or pension statements that will still be true on the day the decree is signed. A file that was adjourned for fragile resources is rebuilt with time, not paper: permanent contracts, completed tax years and a clean URSSAF record outweigh explanatory letters.

Conduct is the third filter, and it extends further than many Britons expect — including to British soil. In CAA Nantes, 12 September 2025, No. 24NT02593, an applicant’s file was adjourned for two years largely because he had driven a motor vehicle without a licence; the court annulled the first-instance judgment for failing to answer the reasoning complaint, evoked the case, and then confirmed the adjournment on the merits, holding that the minister may lawfully weigh unfavourable facts when assessing the interest of granting nationality. The official page mirrors this severity: you must be of good life and morals, must not have been sentenced in France to unsuspended imprisonment of six months or more, and must not have been convicted of a crime or offence against the Nation’s fundamental interests or an act of terrorism — though rehabilitation or removal of the conviction from bulletin No. 2 of the criminal record lifts the bar (service-public.fr, naturalisation by decree). The administration also checks your criminal record in France and abroad (service-public.fr, naturalisation by decree), and applicants resident in France for less than ten years must produce the foreign record extract from each country lived in. Concretely, a British applicant should disclose and document: UK cautions and convictions with evidence of rehabilitation or spent status, French driving disqualifications, and any ongoing proceedings — because a fact the administration discovers reads as concealment, while a fact you explain with proof of reform reads as a closed chapter. Unpaid taxes, undeclared rental income and repeated uninsured driving belong to the same family of unfavourable facts: regularise them before the new interview, not after.

B. The language test, the interview and the Paris-region practicalities

Language defeats more British files than any other single cause, because native English speakers often assume everyday fluency is enough. It is not. Article 21-24 of the Civil Code, in its current wording, provides that “Nul ne peut être naturalisé s’il ne justifie de son assimilation à la communauté française, notamment par une connaissance suffisante, selon sa condition, de la langue, de l’histoire, de la culture et de la société françaises, dont le niveau et les modalités d’évaluation sont fixés par décret en Conseil d’Etat, et des droits et devoirs conférés par la nationalité française ainsi que par l’adhésion aux principes et aux valeurs essentiels de la République.” The same article describes the expected level in terms no casual speaker meets by accident: “L’intéressé justifie d’un niveau de langue lui permettant au moins de comprendre le contenu essentiel de sujets concrets ou abstraits dans un texte complexe, de communiquer avec spontanéité, de s’exprimer de façon claire et détaillée sur une grande variété de sujets.” The decree itself now sets the bar, in wording in force since 18 July 2025: “Pour l’application de l’ article 21-24 du code civil : 1° Tout demandeur doit justifier d’une connaissance de la langue française à l’oral et à l’écrit au moins égale au niveau B2 du Cadre européen commun de référence pour les langues, tel qu’adopté par le comité des ministres du Conseil de l’Europe dans sa recommandation CM/ Rec (2008) du 2 juillet 2008.” The same article adds a civic examination: “Le niveau des connaissances attendues est évalué à l’occasion d’un examen civique.” The official language page confirms the requirement (service-public.fr, proving your French level). There is no shortcut for coming from an English-speaking country, and since July 2025 the paper exemption is narrow: “Sont toutefois dispensées de la production de ce diplôme ou de cette attestation les personnes dont le handicap ou l’état de santé déficient chronique rend impossible leur évaluation linguistique.” (Article 37-1 of the 1993 decree, in force since 18 July 2025; the March 2026 judgment below applied the earlier, broader wording to older facts). And that exemption is narrower than it looks. In that March 2026 judgment, a deaf applicant with at least 80% incapacity argued her disability excused her from the language assessment; the court answered, under the wording then applicable, that dispensation from producing the diploma does not prevent the minister from assessing her actual French, and confirmed the rejection where the assimilation interview showed she could neither understand simple personal questions nor express herself in French, without proving the disability had made all learning impossible since her arrival in 2011. Under the current wording that lesson is stricter still: exemption now requires a handicap or chronic condition that makes any linguistic assessment impossible. For British readers the guidance is practical: pass a recognised B2 test or hold a qualifying diploma before refiling, keep certificates less than two years old, prepare the civic examination and the prefecture interview as examinations rather than conversations — and if you live with a chronic condition, check the joint-ministerial exemption procedure early, but still arrive able to hold a simple discussion about your life, work and reasons for becoming French, because the interview report is what the minister and later the judge will read. The interview itself is a legal act, not a chat: “Lors de cet entretien individuel, conduit après réception des enquêtes prévues à l’article 36, l’agent vérifie l’assimilation du demandeur à la communauté française, selon les critères prévus par l’ article 21-24 du code civil , notamment par sa connaissance suffisante des droits et devoirs conférés par la nationalité française ainsi que par son adhésion aux principes et aux valeurs essentiels de la République.” (Article 41 of the decree, in force since 18 July 2025). That written report is what the minister — and later the judge — reads, so short, precise, well-structured answers in correct French outweigh long, hesitant ones, and the charter of rights and duties you sign at the end should be read beforehand, not discovered on the day.

A final cluster of practical points is specific to filing from Paris and Île-de-France. Applications now go through the national online service rather than paper counters, with ANTS helpline support and prefecture digital reception points for applicants who genuinely cannot file online (service-public.fr, naturalisation by decree). Paris-region applicants attend the interview at their assigned platform and should budget for long waiting lists between the receipt, the interview and the decision — the 18-month response period is a ceiling, not a promise of speed, and files requiring foreign-record checks take longer. British files have two recurring Paris traps. The first is the UK criminal-record extract: if you have lived in France for less than ten years, attach the British extract issued by the competent UK authority alongside the French bulletin, with a certified translation of every document not in French. The second is assuming a British marriage helps automatically: marriage to a French national opens a different route — declaration by marriage, with its own conditions and its own opposition procedure — which our guide to becoming French through marriage to a French spouse explains; pursuing the wrong track and failing wastes years. One reassurance to end the practical section: nothing in the file checklist requires you to give up your British passport, and on the British side the rule is explicit — the United Kingdom allows dual citizenship, so you can remain British while becoming French (GOV.UK, dual citizenship). The same page adds the one caveat worth knowing: with both citizenships, you cannot seek British diplomatic help while you are in France (GOV.UK, dual citizenship). France likewise raises no renunciation requirement in the procedure, so a successful decree simply adds a nationality rather than swapping one for another.

Conclusion

A refused or adjourned naturalisation is a reasoned administrative decision with a timetable attached, not a verdict on your worth. Read which of the three answers you received — rejection, delay with conditions, or procedural closure — and match it to the right response: a hierarchical appeal within two months of notification, a court claim in Nantes within two months of the minister’s negative answer or four months of silence, or a disciplined rebuild that turns the stated reasons into a checklist. The courts have shown what survives review: stable and sufficient income documented over years, a clean conduct record in both countries, and a tested B2 French that the interview report confirms rather than contradicts. British applicants start with two structural advantages — no language of administration to learn from zero, and a dual-nationality regime on both sides that lets them keep their British citizenship — and two structural risks: family or economic ties still centred in Britain, and the assumption that fluency in a Paris café equals examination French. Fix the risks, prove the advantages on paper, and file again when the delay expires or the circumstances have genuinely changed: the decree at the end of the second attempt tastes no different from the one at the end of the first.