Moroccan Nuclear Engineer Waits Three Years for French Citizenship
Sara, a nuclear engineer who has lived in France for more than ten years, is still waiting for a response to her naturalization application, filed three years ago. The wait is holding back her career plans: the jobs she is interested in often require French citizenship.
At 31, this Moroccan woman has built her life in France. She arrived after completing her baccalaureate and went on to earn a master’s degree in engineering before landing a permanent contract with an EDF contractor. She works on the ageing of materials used in nuclear power plants, reports Le Monde.
Her background matches the profiles described as having “high potential for our country” that the May 2025 Retailleau circular says should be taken into consideration. Yet three years after starting the process, Sara is still waiting. She received confirmation that her application was complete in mid-2025. With more than ten years of residence in France, she had hoped for an answer in June 2026.
Since then, she has checked her online account every day, refreshed the page and watched for a notification. The wait has begun to disrupt her sleep. In a civil partnership with a French citizen, she wants the right to vote and to become a citizen of the country where she studied, works and intends to stay.
The process also affects her career. Most of the job openings that catch her eye require French citizenship. Her qualifications helped her enter the nuclear sector; they are not enough to open the door to all the positions she would now like to pursue.
Complete applications, but still no response
Sara sees the same delays in the accounts of other applicants. Engineers, employees of large companies and holders of a “talent passport” have told Le Monde about missed deadlines and applications left unanswered. Some are even reluctant to move, fearing that a change of address could delay their applications further.
These difficulties have been raised with the government. In late 2025, Renaissance MP Annaïg Le Meur asked it about processing times exceeding legal limits in several regions. An applicants’ group has also denounced backlogs in government services and applications being reviewed out of order.
Budget data show that waits are getting longer. For applications resulting in a positive decision, the average time from receipt of a complete application rose from 300 days in 2023 to 339 days in 2024. The administration cites, in particular, the increase in applications and the need for services to adapt to the digital process.
On Bladi.net : Naturalization in France: Moroccans Still Top the Ranking in 2024
The number of applicants continues to rise: 154 000 applications were filed in 2025, compared with 90 000 in 2022. That same year, 42 000 naturalizations were granted, compared with 89 000 in 2010.
