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.
By Envaalde Matheus Namibia’s home affairs minister has tabled a bill that will grant people born with South West Africa (SWA) identification documents (IDs) full Namibian citizenship. Up to now, many of these individuals have been unable to get Namibian […]
To provide for a process for application for acquisition of Namibian citizenship by naturalisation for holders of South West Africa identification documents; to provide for a process for application for acquisition of Namibian citizenship by birth or descent of the […]
Niël Terblanché The government’s mass registration outreach programme, aimed at providing national documents to residents across the country, is nearing its conclusion. Over 94 317 individuals have already benefited from this initiative, which started on 5 February and will conclude […]
Cabinet had directed the ministry of home affairs to address the issue of undocumented and stateless persons in the country in 2021. Although the ministry ambitiously set sights on realising this target and resolving the problem by 2025, eradicating statelessness […]
The Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security says a total of 141 048 individuals have been identified and registered as stateless and undocumented. This was revealed by home affairs minister Albert Kawana in parliament this week while delivering […]
The home affairs ministry has drafted two pieces of legislation to cater to South Africans who came to Namibia in the 1980s and missed the one-year deadline at independence that allowed them to renounce citizenship of any other country. *Fiona, […]
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 […]