Marlène Schiappa, the interior minister in charge of citizenship, said that 2,009 people, including 665 children, had been fast-tracked for naturalisation for showing their attachment to France during the health crisis that has killed more than 105,000 people in the country.
Last September Schiappa urged immigration officials to speed up the citizenship applications of essential workers who had actively contributed to the nationwide fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
She said she wanted them to be able to ask for citizenship after two years in France instead of the usual wait of five years.
Those involved include health workers, security guards, supermarket checkout workers, rubbish collectors, home-care providers and nannies.
On Wednesday, Schiappa published a video on social media of her telephoning some of the people who had benefited from the deal.
Comme Zana, Mirna ou Yulia... 2009 personnes engagées pendant la crise sanitaire #COVID19 ont été naturalisées via une circulaire dédiée que j’ai souhaité prendre. J’ai tenu à les remercier en personne 📞
— 🇫🇷 MarleneSchiappa (@MarleneSchiappa) May 5, 2021
Bienvenue à nos nouveaux compatriotes ! 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/a4hGr5n0z6
"I wanted to thank them in person," she wrote. "Welcome to our new compatriots!"
In 2020, 61,371 people acquired French citizenship, a decline of 20 percent compared with 2019.
