Hundreds of immigrants working on France's COVID-19 frontline have been rewarded with citizenship for their service to the country.
According to BBC, France's interior ministry invited immigrants working jobs contributing to efforts against COVID-19 such as healthcare professionals, cleaners and shop workers to apply for a fast-tracked citizenship.
Over 700 people have received citizenship or are in the final stages of receiving their citizenship.
The initiative was announced in September and has already seen 74 people receive a French passport and 2890 applications.
"Health professionals, cleaning ladies, childcare workers, checkout staff: They all proved their commitment to the nation, and it is now the turn of the republic to take a step towards them," said Marlene Schiappa, France's junior minister for citizenship.
France has been hit hard by COVID-19 with over 2.5 million cases and 61,000 deaths to date, positioning it within the top 10 countries which have suffered the most from the pandemic.
Under normal circumstances an immigrant would have to reside in France for five years, prove a stable income and demonstrate integration into French society before being granted citizenship.
The COVID-19 changes mean immigrants working frontline jobs will only have to reside in France for two years prior to applying for citizenship, reports BBC.
The number of people granted citizenship to France has been decreasing year on year due to increasingly tight immigration rules; 2019 saw 10 percent fewer immigrants be granted citizenship than in 2018.
According to the New York Times, citizenship applications can often take years to complete.
Aziz Youssef, a Tunisian born physiotherapist, told the New York Times his application was lengthy and he didn't expect to be granted citizenship until 2022.
But after visiting isolated patients during the pandemic he was grateful to see the new frontline worker fast-tracking rules push his application through.
"Everything sped up very quickly as a form of recognition for the work that was done."
