Nationality in Namibia is governed by the 1990 Constitution and citizenship act, as amended in 2010. The law provides for citizenship on the basis of descent, and also for a child born in Namibia to acquire citizenship at birth if the parents are “ordinarily resident” in the country. Dual citizenship is permitted for those who have citizenship from birth; the courts have confirmed this in several cases.
The 2010 amendments to the citizenship act reflected a trend to restrict access to citizenship, increasing the period of residence required for acquisition of citizenship through marriage or by naturalisation.
The interpretation of “ordinarily resident” has been questioned, and in 2016, the Supreme Court ruled that the interpretation could include a person in Namibia on a temporary residence permit. The government immediately moved to amend the law to restrict acquisition of citizenship at birth to chidren whose parents had permanent residence in Namibia, but later backed down from this proposal.
The Namibian constitutional provisions include a protection against statelessness for children born in the territory, although it is not complete (requiring the parents to be ordinarily resident). The law does not provide for a presumption of citizenship in favour of children of unknown parents; an omission which was regretted by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2012. In practice, such children are usually granted Namibian citizenship.
WINDHOEK, 24 SEP (NAMPA) – Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security Minister Albert Kawana has said that his ministry is drafting a bill aimed at preventing statelessness and regularising the status of specified categories of stateless and undocumented persons. Speaking […]
By Aletta Shikololo Extracts […] Last week, New Era accompanied officials from the immigration ministry to the Oshikoto region, where they continued with the ongoing outreach programme aimed at identifying and documenting the stateless community. […] About 1 000 people […]
Extracts relating to developments in law and policy: Eswatini On 06 April, an application was made at the High Court of the Kingdom of Eswatini ( Eswatini) to declare laws limiting the passing of citizenship from swazi women to their […]
By Hertta-Maria Amutenja The Namibian Government estimates that there are at least 141 048 stateless and undocumented people residing in Namibia. This was revealed by the Minster of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety, and Security, Albert Kawana this week during the […]
By Petrus Muronga Stateless and undocumented people living in the Kavango East and Kavango West regions have called on the government to speed up registering them, accusing the Rundu regional office of delaying the process. The two Kavango regions have […]
By Ayang Macdonald A draft piece of legislation seeking to make changes to Namibia’s civil status registration and identification system is currently in the country’s parliament for first reading. Among the proposed changes to the bill which has been introduced […]
BILL To provide for compilation and maintenance of a Civil Register; to provide for appointment of Registrar-General and Registrars; to determine age of certain persons recorded in the Civil Register in accordance with this Act; to provide for name changes […]
The Southern African Nationality Network (SANN) in partnership with UNHCR Regional Bureau for Southern Africa is publishing a quarterly newsletter on statelessness in Southern Africa. The newsletter features updates from organisations and institutions working towards the eradication of statelessness in […]
By Vitalio Angula WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA — The Supreme Court of Namibia has ruled in favor of recognizing same-sex marriages from other countries, making Namibia only the second nation on the continent to do so after South Africa. A small group […]
WINDHOEK – Namibia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday recognised same-sex marriages contracted abroad between citizens and foreign spouses, a landmark ruling in a country where homosexuality is illegal. The decision overturns a ruling reached last year by the High Court, which […]
by Werner Menges A FOUR-YEAR-OLD boy at the centre of a legal battle about his nationality will have Namibian citizenship by descent once his birth has been registered at the ministry of home affairs or a Namibian diplomatic mission outside […]
By Roland Routh Five judges of the Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the Windhoek High Court was wrong when it ordered the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration to grant citizenship to the child of same-sex couple Phillip Lühl […]