France is rewarding hundreds of frontline immigrants with citizenship

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The French government is tracking nearly 700 citizenship applications from foreign frontline workers who have distinguished themselves in the fight against COVID-19.

“Health workers, cleaning workers, childcare workers and shop assistants … They have proven their commitment to the nation. It is now up to the Republic to take a step towards them,” said a statement released by the French on Tuesday. Junior Minister. for Citizenship Marlene Schiappa.

Nearly 2.5 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and 61,702 people have died since Wednesday, according to the French government.

Applications for French citizenship can take years, and the global pandemic has caused further delays in processing paperwork. In September, as France braced itself for a second wave of the pandemic, the government asked regional officials to “facilitate” and “speed up” the naturalization process for foreign workers actively participating in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

In three months, more than 70 applicants have acquired citizenship through their service, and nearly 700 are in the final stages of reception, Schiappa’s office said. A total of 2,890 people have registered so far.

“They took an active part in the national effort, with dedication and courage,” Schiappa wrote in a letter to regional authorities at the time.

Demonstration against the 'Global Security Bill' in Paris
Nurses gesturing from a window as a demonstration against the “Global Security Bill” marching in front of a hospital in Paris.

GONZALO FUENTES / REUTERS


In 2019, more than 112,000 people acquired French citizenship, including more than 48,000 through naturalization, which is 18% less than in 2015.

This initiative “is a long tradition dating back to the French Revolution of granting citizenship to the country’s benefactors,” Didier Leschi, the director of the French Immigration and Integration Office, told Le Figaro.

This is not the first time France has recognized contributions to the nation with citizenship.

In 2018 a young man from Mali was offered French citizenship and a job as a firefighter after climbing an apartment building to rescue a child dangling from a balcony. The Three Americans Who Thwart a 2015 terrorist attack on a train to Paris, also received French citizenship in 2019.

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