The first coronavirus wave in France came close to breaking the country’s health care system — and frontline workers were at greater risks than most. So Ms. Schiappa asked regional officials to accelerate the citizenship applications of foreign workers who were among them.
“They actively participated in the national effort, with dedication and courage,” Ms. Schiappa wrote in a letter to regional authorities.
With more than 60,000 deaths caused by the coronavirus and close to 2.5 million coronavirus infections reported, France has paid a heavy toll in the pandemic. With infection rates failing to fall as quickly as predicted, the French government recently decided to delay the relaxation of some lockdown restrictions.
More than 70 applicants have obtained citizenship since September and 693 more are in the final stage of the process, the authorities said. Although their nationality has not been made public, beneficiaries mainly include health care and social workers, as well as shop employees and civil servants.
There are several different ways to gain citizenship in France: through marriage; by being born in France or to a French parent; and through naturalization. In this last case, the applicant must have lived in the country for at least five years — or two years for immigrants with a degree obtained in France — have stable resources and be considered integrated into French society.
In September, Ms. Schiappa also ordered officials to reduce the residency period in France required to obtain citizenship by naturalization to two years from the usual five in the case of “great services rendered.”
Didier Leschi, the director of the French Office of Immigration and Integration, said the fast-tracking measure was part of “a long tradition that can be traced back to the French Revolution, which is to grant citizenship to the benefactors of the country.”
But Mr. Leschi added that it partly broke with this tradition, which generally applied only to individual and exceptional cases. “Here, a collective effort was rewarded,” he said.
This was not the first time in recent years that France departed from its strict rules of naturalization to reward laudable actions. In September 2018, Mamoudou Gassama, a migrant from Mali, was made a French citizen after heroically rescuing a 4-year-old boy who was hanging from a balcony.
Mr. Youssef, the physiotherapist, said he was now waiting for his final interview, where he will be tested on his historical and cultural knowledge of France.
“This pandemic has revealed that France needs these people: doctors, surgeons, essential workers,” Mr. Youssef said.
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