French Language Levels for French Citizenship and Residency

The French language level required for naturalisation rose to B2 with effect from 1 January 2026, up from B1. First applications for a residence permit require A2 or B1 depending on the permit. This page states those levels with links to the government pages they come from, and then does the part I can actually help with: explaining what the levels mean and how far apart they are.

The levels required

These are the levels published when each government page linked below was checked in October 2026. The rules changed with effect from 1 January 2026, so check the current figure before relying on it.

Applicants of 65 and over are outside the residence permit requirement. The official wording for naturalisation is a level "au moins égale au niveau B2 du cadre européen commun de référence pour les langues", that is at least equal to B2 of the Common European Framework, required "à l'oral et à l'écrit", in speech and in writing.

One thing the reform did not change: the four-skill structure. Prefecture notices from 2020 and 2024 show that all four papers were already required at B1 in a single session before 2026. So this was a rise in level, not the addition of written skills, and anyone telling you that writing is newly tested is mistaken.

Which certificates are named

For naturalisation, the official list of accepted proof has six entries:

• The diplôme national du brevet
• Any diploma issued in the name of the French State certifying at least level 3 of the national framework of professional certifications
• Any professional certification at level 3 or above registered in the RNCP
• Any diploma attesting a knowledge of French at least equivalent to B2 of the Common European Framework
• A pass attestation for the TCF, the test de connaissance du français, issued less than two years ago by France Éducation international
• A pass attestation for the TEF, the test d'évaluation de français, issued less than two years ago by the Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de Paris

So the TCF and the TEF are the only two tests named. The list is not limited to tests, though: the brevet, State diplomas at level 3 and RNCP certifications are all on it. It would be wrong to say only the TCF and TEF count.

A naming point that confuses people checking at source: the government page names the TEF's awarding body as the Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de Paris, while the body itself now publishes as CCI Paris Île-de-France, through its language arm Le français des affaires. These are the same institution.

Note also that these documents are called attestations de réussite, pass attestations, even though the TCF and TEF report a level rather than a pass or a failure. The document attests that you sat the test and reached a level; whether that level is enough is decided by the authority reading it.

The DELF asymmetry

This is the detail most worth knowing, and it is genuinely odd.

For naturalisation, neither DELF nor DALF is named anywhere on the official list set out above.

For residence permits, DELF, DALF and DELF Pro are all named explicitly, alongside the DUEF, the DFP and the DCL, as accepted diplomas at the required level.

Those are both simply what the two lists say. What follows from the difference for any individual application is not something I can tell you, and I am not going to guess at it: that is a question for the authority deciding the file, and the answer is in the official list rather than on any tutor's website. Read the list, and ask.

The residency rules also state that diplomas issued by a foreign authority are not accepted, even from a French-speaking country.

What the test looks like

For residence permit applications, the published conditions are four separate papers, oral expression, written expression, oral comprehension and written comprehension, sat in person at an examination centre, on the same day, in a single session, with identity and photo checks.

The TCF and TEF versions built for these applications are described on the companion page about sitting the TCF and TEF in the UK, including the point that the TEF version for nationality and residency caps the level you are awarded by your weakest paper. That is worth knowing in advance, because it means you cannot carry a weak skill on the strength of the other three.

Both attestations are valid for two years, and the official lists require an attestation "délivrée depuis moins de 2 ans", issued less than two years ago. Those are two separate conditions that happen to coincide at the moment.

The civic exam is separate

From the same date, 1 January 2026, there is also a civic examination, and it is a separate requirement from the language test rather than part of it.

• Format. 40 multiple-choice questions, taken on a digital medium, 45 minutes maximum, pass mark 32 correct answers. It is set in French.
• Content. Four domains: milestones of French history; the principles, symbols and institutions of the Republic; the exercise of French citizenship, including the charte des droits et devoirs du citoyen français; and France's place in Europe and the world.
• Who it applies to. Naturalisation and reintegration by decree, and first applications for a multi-year residence permit or a carte de résident. It is not required for acquisition by declaration, which includes marriage to a French national, and it is not required on renewal.
• Validity. The pass certificate has no expiry, unlike the language attestations.
• Where. In France, at a centre approved by CCI Paris Île-de-France or France Éducation international. Outside France, at an institut français, an alliance française, or the consular authorities of the country of residence.

Cheating carries annulment and a two-year ban from re-sitting.

Exemptions

Exemptions exist and they are narrow. I am setting out that they exist rather than how they apply, because they turn on medical, residence and protection circumstances that only the deciding authority can assess.

For naturalisation, the official page provides for exemption where a disability or state of health makes language assessment impossible, on a medical certificate following a regulatory model, and that applies to both the decree route and declaration by marriage. Listed for naturalisation by decree only, there is a further exemption for people who are political refugees or stateless, and over 70, and resident in France for at least 15 years with a valid residence document. That is a conjunction: all three conditions, not any one of them. Separately from exemption, adjustments to the exam can be arranged for disability or health.

For residence permits, applicants of 65 and over are outside the requirement, and there are provisions for disability and chronic illness, for titles not subject to the integration contract, and for beneficiaries of subsidiary protection and stateless people and their families.

If you think an exemption might apply to you, that is a question for the official page and for an adviser, not for this one. Two things I will say plainly, because they circulate as half-truths: long residence on its own is not an exemption from the naturalisation requirement, and there is no age-only exemption on the current naturalisation page.

What B2 actually means

Here is the part the government pages do not explain at all, and where a teacher is more use than a legal text. This section and the next are my own characterisation of the levels, drawn from the Common European Framework descriptors and from teaching people through them. They are not official definitions.

A2 is functional survival with support. You can handle predictable exchanges about familiar things: shopping, directions, your job, your family. You understand short clear announcements. You write simple connected sentences about your own life. You cope when the other person accommodates you, and much less well when they do not.

B1 is independence inside the familiar. You can hold a conversation on subjects you know, follow the main points of clear standard speech, explain an opinion and give reasons, deal with most situations that come up while travelling, and write a straightforward connected text. What B1 does not reliably give you is speed, nuance, or comfort with an argument you did not see coming.

B2 is where the difference becomes noticeable to a French speaker. You can follow extended speech and a complex line of argument, provided the topic is reasonably familiar, and keep up with a discussion between native speakers rather than waiting to be addressed. You can hold your own in a debate: state a position, defend it under challenge, and concede a point without losing the thread. You can write a clear, structured text that weighs options rather than listing them. You read a newspaper article and take the writer's attitude from it, not just the facts.

The gap between B1 and B2 is not a bit more vocabulary. It is the point at which you stop managing the language and start using it. That is why it is the level institutions ask for when they need you to function alongside French speakers rather than merely be understood by them, and it is why it takes most people considerably longer than they expect.

Getting from B1 to B2

Some observations rather than a timetable, since the honest answer to how long it takes is that it depends on where your gaps are.

Listening is usually the binding constraint. In my experience this is the skill that lags at every level, and it is the one that decides whether a four-paper exam in a single session goes well. Unscripted speech at natural pace, with regional accents and people talking over each other, is a different task from the recordings most courses use. It is also the skill that improves most reliably with volume: French radio and podcasts daily, for months, does more than any exercise book.

Written production is where B2 is won or lost on paper. B1 writing describes and explains. B2 writing argues. If you can only write a text that lists reasons in sequence, you are at B1 in that skill however good your grammar is. The thing to practise is holding a position across several paragraphs, conceding something, and still arriving where you intended.

Speaking is where most people underestimate the jump. Presenting something you prepared is a B1 skill. Disagreeing with someone fluently, in real time, without rehearsing, is a B2 one.

Do not guess your level. With a test that reports a level rather than awarding a pass, the risk is not failing but paying for a result lower than you need. Sit a full timed past paper first, including the listening, and look at the four scores separately. There is also a free French level test on this site which will give you an indicative level across the six framework bands, as a starting point rather than a verdict.

Where the tests can be sat

Both can be sat in the UK, at different centres. The TCF version for nationality and residency runs at the Institut français du Royaume-Uni in London. The TEF equivalent runs at Alliance Française centres including London, Manchester, Cambridge and Bristol, and at the Institut français d'Écosse in Edinburgh. Fees, sessions and paper structures are on the TCF and TEF in the UK page.

No French government source I could find states anything either way about whether sitting the test outside France affects an application, so I am not going to speculate. Ask the consulate.

Sources

• service-public.gouv.fr F11926, on proving your level of French for French nationality: the B2 level, the list of accepted proof, the two-year rule and the exemptions. Shown as verified 1 January 2026 when this page was checked.
• Ministry of the Interior, for the 1 January 2026 effective date, which the fiche above does not itself state.
• service-public.gouv.fr F34501, on proving your level for a carte de résident or a multi-year residence permit: the A2 and B1 levels, the four papers in a single session, and the wider list of accepted diplomas including DELF, DALF and DELF Pro. Shown as verified 10 February 2026.
• service-public.gouv.fr F39426, on the civic examination: its format, scope and venues, and the fact that it is separate from the language requirement. Shown as verified 16 July 2026. See also the accompanying announcement.
• justice.fr, which mirrors the nationality language requirement.
• Council of Europe, for the Common European Framework descriptors behind the level descriptions above.

Related pages: which French exam you actually need, TCF and TEF in the UK, and DELF in the UK.

The levels on this page are those published in October 2026, when each government page linked above was checked. The rules changed with effect from 1 January 2026, and requirements, accepted-certificate lists and exemptions can all change again. Nothing here is immigration advice: confirm the current position on service-public.gouv.fr and with your prefecture or consulate before acting on it. The descriptions of what each level means are my own, as a French teacher, and are not official definitions.