The article studies the process of adapting national laws of France to foreign citizens and to Russian exiles in particular. It was not possible to apply the laws of the former state and the laws of the Soviet Russia to the former subjects of the Russian Empire, as they were not its citizens. France had formed its legal system and the administrative practice after the recognition of the Soviet Union in 1924 and the ratification of international acts – the Treaty (1928) and then the Convention (1933) on the legal status of Russian and Armenian refugees. By the end of 1920-ies the emigrants sought naturalization to receive equal rights with local population.
Russian refugees, F. Nansen, V.A. Maklakov, the Russian Émigré.