Belarusian received French citizenship with an expired Belarusian passport
A Belarusian, who has been living in France for a long time, received a positive response regarding citizenship after the third request, writes "Belsat".
Illustrative photo
This is the first such case, reports Catherine Baré, a lawyer specializing in administrative law, foreigners' rights, and asylum law in France.
The lawyer notes that the first two times the Belarusian applied for French citizenship with a valid Belarusian passport, but received a temporary deferment (ajournement) for two years.
“The third time, a new dossier was submitted on paper after the prefecture lost the digital online request. During the citizenship interview at the prefecture, the agent thoroughly inquired about the circumstances preventing the Belarusian from obtaining a new Belarusian passport and received substantiated answers and relevant certificates from him. The case was reviewed in less than a year, and in January, his surname was announced in the citizenship decree.
This is the first case for Belarusians in France, and I am confident that France will continue to pay special attention to the situation of Belarusians abroad. We congratulate him and his entire family on the long-awaited news!”, wrote Catherine Baré.
It was previously announced that Spain decided to recognize Belarusian passports that have expired.