The bar moved this year. Since 1 January 2026, applicants for French nationality must prove a B2 level rather than the B1 required until the end of 2025, and the level is now assessed in writing as well as orally. A civic knowledge exam became compulsory on the same date, and the entretien d’assimilation at the préfecture continues alongside both.
That is three requirements, not one. I prepare the language side of this with students every week, and the single most common mistake is treating the certificate, the exam and the interview as one thing that gets sorted at the same time. They do not.
This page sets out what each one asks for. The checklist at the top is the same thing on eight pages you can print, French and English side by side, with room to draft your own answers to the interview questions.
Free 4-page guide
The twelve-week French plan
A week-by-week plan for the next three months, built around the hours you actually have rather than the hours you wish you had.
- Three routes, from twenty minutes a day to an hour, week by week
- What to do with input and what to do with output, and why they differ
- How to tell you have moved, without waiting for an exam to say so
4 pages, free, sent straight away. Everything on this page stays free either way. You will also hear from me when a new guide or free deck goes up, and one click at the bottom of any email takes you off the list.
What changed on 1 January 2026
Four changes, and the last one catches people out: the new rules apply to files submitted before 2026 that were still incomplete when the year turned.
| Requirement | Until 31 Dec 2025 | From 1 Jan 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| French language level | B1, oral only | B2, oral and written |
| Civic knowledge exam | Not required | Compulsory multiple-choice exam |
| Assimilation interview | Required | Still required, in addition to the exam |
| Enic-Naric statement | Accepted as proof of level | No longer accepted |
How to prove B2
Two routes, and the difference between them should decide which you take. A diploma never expires; a test attestation has to be under two years old on the day your file is examined, and files run long.
| Route | What counts | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|
| A diploma | DELF B2, or a DALF at C1 or C2 | Never expires |
| A test attestation | TCF or TEF, in the version designed for nationality | Under 2 years when your file is examined |
| One certification only | B2 in oral and written within the same diploma or test | No combining results from two sources |
The half nobody can revise alone
Your own story, out loud, in French
The factual questions can be revised from official sources. Telling your own life across four tenses, to an agent who interrupts you, cannot. That is the part my students underprepare, and the part that decides how the half hour feels. A 25 minute trial lesson is where you find out how it actually sounds.
Book a trial lesson · $15The interview: the questions, and what they demand of your French
The entretien d’assimilation lasts around 30 to 45 minutes, takes place entirely in French, and is an assessment of integration rather than a marked language exam. There is no official list of questions. These six are the ones that come up, in the two registers you have to prepare separately: the factual half, which you can revise, and the personal half, which you have to be able to say out loud.
- Quels sont les symboles de la République française ?What are the symbols of the French Republic?
- Que signifie la devise « Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité » ?What does the motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité mean?
- Qu’est-ce que la laïcité ?What is laïcité?
- Pourquoi souhaitez-vous devenir français ou française ?Why do you wish to become French?
- Parlez-moi de votre parcours en France.Tell me about your path in France.
- Quelles sont vos attaches avec la France ?What are your ties to France?
The tenses the personal questions hide
The factual questions are revisable and most candidates do revise them. The personal ones are the ones they underprepare, and they carry the heavier language load, because answering them means narrating your own life across four tenses while someone waits.
You need the passé composé and the imparfait for what happened, the présent for your situation now, and the futur and conditionnel for your plans and for the hypothetical. If that mix is shaky under pressure, it shows immediately, and it shows on the question you care most about answering well.
The advice I give every student at this stage: rehearse your own story out loud, in French, until it runs without effort. You know the content perfectly. What fails on the day is the delivery, when nerves and an unfamiliar room turn a story you have told a hundred times in your own language into hesitant French.
The civic exam
New since 1 January 2026, taken on a computer at an approved centre, separate from both your language certificate and the interview. Reported formats describe around 40 questions in roughly 45 minutes across four areas. The pass mark, the fee and the booking terms have been reported inconsistently in the scheme’s first months, so confirm them with the official operators rather than with any summary, this one included.
- L’histoire de FranceThe history of France
- Les principes et les institutions de la RépubliqueThe principles and institutions of the Republic
- L’exercice de la citoyenneté, les droits et les devoirsThe exercise of citizenship, rights and duties
- La place de la France en Europe et dans le mondeFrance’s place in Europe and in the world
Where to revise the civic material
The reference material is public and free. The charte des droits et devoirs du citoyen français, which you sign at the end of the process, and the official reference framework for the interview are both available online, and they are the correct place to revise from. Summaries written by third parties, including this page, are a map and not the territory.
One caution worth repeating: nationality rules change and individual situations vary enormously. I prepare the language side of this process, which is where a French teacher is useful and where the new B2 bar actually bites. For the procedure itself, confirm your own case against service-public.fr or with your préfecture before making decisions.