Algeria achieved independence from France in July 1962, and enacted the first Algerian nationality law in March 1963. The law granted citizenship only to Muslims, requiring that only those individuals whose father and paternal grandfather had Muslim personal status could become citizens of the new state. Before independence, Muslims were considered indigenous under a special set of laws known as Code de l'indigénat and were not eligible to French citizenship and in practice had an inferior legal status; but Christian and Jewish inhabitants of Algeria during the French colonial period could acquire French citizenship.