Botswana to allow dual citizenship
Oarabile Mosikare | Friday February 3, 2017 15:59
The objective of the Bill is to amend the Citizenship Act among others to “resume Botswana citizenship of persons who ceased to be citizens of Botswana as a result of acquiring citizenship of another country as a consequence of marriage” and “align the act with the age of majority set out in the Interpretation Act”.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill of 2016 was published on January 27, 2017 in the Government Gazette.
Clause 2 of the Bill amends Section 9 of the act by substituting the words “21 years” with “18 years” so that the provision is consistent with the age of maturity, which has been reduced from 21 years to 18 years. Clause 3 of the Bill amends Section 12 of the Act by substituting for the words “of full age”, the words “who is 18-years-old and above”.
“The Minister may grant a certificate of naturalisation to a person who is 18-years-old and above and of full capacity, who satisfies the Minister that he or she is qualified under Section 13 for naturalisation, and that person shall, on taking the oath of allegiance, be a citizen of Botswana by naturalisation from the date on which the certificate is granted.”
The amendment also states, “Any person who is a citizen of Botswana and acquires citizenship of another country as a consequence of marriage and resides in the other country where he or she has acquired citizenship, shall not cease to be a citizen of Botswana, unless he or she renounces the citizenship of Botswana.”
It continues: “A citizen of Botswana who before the coming into effect of subsection (3), had by virtue of contracting a marriage with a non-citizen where the law of the non-citizen spouse automatically conferred on the citizen of Botswana shall not cease to be a citizen of Botswana upon the coming into effect of subsection (3).”