Namibia to Tighten Citizenship Laws

The bill seeks to extend the waiting period required for acquiring Namibian citizenship by marriage to "not less than ten years of ordinarily residing in Namibia", from its current status of "not less than two years".

Also, the bill would seek to extend the waiting period of persons seeking Namibian citizenship through naturalization to ten years, from the current five.

Naturalization is a process that allow foreign nationals who may want to attain Namibian citizenship to do so after having lived in the country for a period of five consecutive years, and upon having denounced the citizenship of their country of origin. The bill is now with the Office of the Attorney General to review the proposed amendments. Once it has finalized its review, it will then return the bill back to the National Assembly for further deliberations.

Although the bill is still in its infancy, it is already causing controversy amongst civil society and human rights group within the country, with many of them calling for Namibia to enact laws that would allow dual citizenship. Namibia does not recognize dual citizenship, except in the case of a Namibian child who gains citizenship of the country of birth. In such a case, the child is permitted to retain dual citizenship until the age 18.

If the bill goes through, it will mark the second amendment to the country’s constitution. The constitution was amended for the first time to allow Namibia‘s founding President, Sam Nujoma to take office for a third term – against the constitutional provision of two terms.

Source: Allafrica