France issued 2 thousand passports to foreign citizens during the pandemic

The French government has decided to grant two thousand people - residents of other countries - French citizenship under an accelerated procedure. These are the people who, during the pandemic, were "on the front line" in the fight against COVID-19. They were asked to apply for passports at the end of 2020.

Who was able to obtain citizenship?

Among those who were granted citizenship according to the accelerated procedure, there were the following workers:

• medical personnel;
• cleaners;
• nannies;
• cashiers.

In total, 8 thousand people applied for a French passport. Today, more than 2000 documents have been issued confirming French citizenship. Other applications will also be reviewed in the near future.

For those who were late to apply the procedure is still eased. For foreign residents who are actively involved in the fight against the pandemic in France, the mandatory period of stay in the country for obtaining citizenship has been reduced from 5 years to 2 years.