Botswana: Parliament agrees to Citizenship Act amendment
Published: 8/Dec/2019
Source: Botswana Daily News
Parliament has adopted a motion requesting the Ministry of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs to amend the Citizenship Act to make it a default position that one retains the Botswana citizen unless they specifically renounce it.
Tabling the motion, Maun East legislator, Mr Goretetse Kekgonegile said allowing for a default position for citizens to retain Botswana citizenship, unless they renounced it, rendered them the opportunity to enjoy certain benefits and possibly deal with issues such as unemployment.
He argued that whether one chose to renounce Botswana citizenship or not should be left to individuals. He noted that the recently introduced Botswana Blue Card allowed persons who had renounced Botswana citizenship to retain the right to unlimited stay in Botswana.
While dual citizenship gives certain advantages such as easy residency in multiple countries and access to opportunities and government programmes, Mr Kekgonegile cautioned that there were extra-legal considerations that could make life more complicated for people who had dual citizenship.
He said a dual citizen may have tax obligations in more than one countries or may need to fulfil residency requirements between two homelands.
Read further: http://www.dailynews.gov.bw/news-details.php?nid=53328