File No. 351.117/4.
The Acting Secretary of State to Mr. W. M. Chadbourne.
Washington, December 24, 1913.
Sir: The Department has received your letter of December 18, concerning a certain naturalized citizen of the United States of French origin who desires to place himself in such a position that he may visit France without being molested under the military service laws. It appears that he is under the impression “that a law has been passed in France to the effect that persons of a certain age, who never performed their military service, may exempt themselves from liability for punishment for their failure to do so by serving for a very short term of about a month and that he desires to take advantage of such law. In relation to this matter you call attention to the provision of the first paragraph of Section 2 of the Act of March 2, 1907:
That any American citizen shall be deemed to have expatriated himself when he has been naturalized in any foreign state in conformity with its laws, or when he has taken an oath of allegiance to any foreign state.
Your attention is called to the following provision of Article 17 of the French Civil Code:
The following lose their French nationality:
1. A Frenchman naturalized in a foreign country or who acquires foreign nationality at his own request by the effect of the law.
If he is still subject to the obligations of military service in the active army, his naturalization abroad will not work a loss of his French nationality unless it has been authorized by the French Government.
The Department understands that under the French military law persons of French origin may be called upon to perform military duty between the ages of twenty and fifty-three years and that they are obliged to serve three years in the active army. So far as the Department is informed there is no provision for a shorter term of service in cases of persons of French origin who have obtained naturalization as citizens of other countries.
Applications for relief from the performance of military service may be addressed to the Minister of Justice at Paris. I regret to say, however, that the Department understands that the French Government rarely absolves a Frenchman of military age from liability for military service.
The Department is not informed whether it is necessary to take a permanent oath of allegiance to France in connection with enlistment in the French army. It may be possible to obtain authentic information concerning this point from the French Consul General in New York City.
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