hello, my wife and i are expecting a baby in march. we are american and hope to offer our child at a later date the possibility of french nationality.
in the mean time, we will need to get an american passport for the wee one. i'm looking for tips or first hand experience re: the process, paper work, etc.
merci d'avance

A child born on French soil to non-French parents is not automatically French. He/she will be eligible to apply at the age of 18 however, assuming that he/she has lived in France for at least five years between the ages of 11 and 18.

In certain cases, the child can apply at the age of 16 (if he's lived here since the age of 11), or at the age of 13 (if he's lived here at the age of 8), but these requests are not always granted, whereas it's almost automatic for those applying at the age of 18.

As for American citizenship, your local consulate can help you with the paperwork for that. You will also find info online on the US Consulate website.

The passport is pretty easy to get; we got one for our son when he was 3 weeks old. Go to the US Embassy website and print off & fill out the paperwork, call and make an appointment (the appt seemed useless as you still stand at a window, but that's what they want you to do). Go to a passport photographer to get the photos; there are a couple near the embassy. Getting a photo is not easy if your baby can't hold his/her head up, but the photographers know how to do it and it can be done.

There is one line to get into the embassy for US citizens and one for non-US citizens - fortunately the US line is shorter. You will also need to file a consular report of birth abroad at the same time (this ensures proof of your child's US citizenship), and fill out the paperwork for a SSN for the baby. All of that information is on the embassy's website.

Let me know if you have any further questions - we're expecting our second in March also so we'll be going through all that again in April or May, probably.