351.117/465
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in France (Wilson)
Sir: The Department has received the Embassy’s despatch No. 1436 of January 4, 1938, and enclosures, relative to the French laws covering nationality and military service.
The information which has been submitted considerably clarifies this question, and a new Paragraph has therefore been prepared for [Page 325] use in a later edition of the Notice to Bearers of Passports. A copy of the new Paragraph is enclosed81 and you are requested to inform the Department whether it corresponds with your understanding of the matter.
One point which has not been brought out in the new Paragraph is the status of children who were naturalized through the naturalization of their parents prior to August 10, 1927. This has purposely been omitted since it is not known whether under Article 17 of the French Civil Code the loss of French citizenship by a parent as a result of his naturalization as a citizen of the United States causes ipso facto the loss of French citizenship by his minor child naturalized as an American citizen through the parent; or whether such loss is conditioned upon compliance by the minor child with any military obligations to France to which he may have become liable.
Another point which the Department desires to have verified relates to the status of a minor who was naturalized as a citizen of the United States through the naturalization of his father after August 10, 1927; that is, whether under Article IX (1) of the Law of that date the loss of French nationality by a minor in such a case is in any way contingent upon the question of the minor being liable to French military obligations. In other words, does a minor child in such a case lose French nationality if at the time of his naturalization, through the naturalization of his father, he is delinquent under the French military service laws? It may be remarked in this connection that in the note from the French Foreign Office of December 23, 1935 (enclosure No. 8 to your despatch No. 166 of December 2, 1936),82 the statement is made that the status of an individual who has acquired American citizenship during his minority as a result of the naturalization of his parents varies accordingly as this naturalization has or has not been authorized by the French Government. The Foreign Office note also states that if the parents have remained French citizens under French law their children have likewise remained French citizens and that if on the other hand the French Government has given its authorization the minor child follows the status of its parents. These statements of the Foreign Office would appear to mean that a minor child naturalized through the naturalization of his father as a citizen of the United States automatically loses French citizenship if his father has lost it. However, in the copy for the Notice to Bearers of Passports which was sent to you as an enclosure to the Department’s instruction of August 18, 1937,83 the statement is made that “… The minor child also loses French citizenship provided such minor child is not [Page 326] delinquent under the French military service laws”, and the further statement is made that “… If their minor children who acquire American citizenship through the naturalization of their parents are not delinquent under the French military service law, such children would also lose that nationality”. It is noted that the copy in which appear the above quoted statements was shown to the French Foreign Office which apparently did not comment on them, which might lead to the assumption that they were acquiesced in.
Upon receipt of information from you clarifying these two points, arrangements will be made to incorporate them in a later edition of the Notice to Bearers of Passports.
Very truly yours,
- Not printed.↩
- Note from Foreign Office not printed; for despatch No. 166, see Foreign Relations, 1936, vol. ii, p. 134.↩
- Ibid., 1937, vol. ii, p. 314.↩