Citizenship Law In Ethiopia
citizenship law is the law of a sovereign state, and of each of its jurisdictions, which determines citizenship rights and responsibilities within the jurisdiction, as well as the way in which citizenship is gained and how it can be lost. A person who is in a country in which he or she is not a citizen is usually considered a foreigner or an alien by that country. A individual who, under any jurisdiction, has no recognized nationality or citizenship is called stateless.
Citizenship in Ethiopia
The Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia has dedicated an article about Ethiopian citizenship. Its states:
1. Any person of either sex shall be an Ethiopian national where both or either parent is Ethiopian. 2. Foreign nationals may acquire Ethiopian nationality.
3. Particulars relating to nationality shall be determined by law.
Nationality of children born of Ethiopian subjects in Ethiopian or abroad
• Any person born in Ethiopia or abroad, whose father or mother is Ethiopian, is an Ethiopian subject.
Nationality in case of marriage between Ethiopians and foreigners
• A lawful marriage of an Ethiopian subject with a foreign woman confers the Ethiopian nationality upon her.
• A lawful marriage contracted abroad of an Ethiopian woman with a foreigner deprives her of the Ethiopian nationality if her marriage with the foreigner gives her the nationality of her husband; otherwise she keeps her Ethiopian nationality. In case when the woman, losing her Ethiopian nationality, is the proprietor of real estate the administration of her property shall be settled in conformity with the law given to that effect by the Imperial Ethiopian government.
Nationality of children of a marriage between Ethiopian and foreign subjects
• Every child born in a lawful mixed marriage, a provided for in the preceding Articles, follows the nationality of its father.
• A child born of an Ethiopian father and a foreign mother united by the bonds of a lawful marriage should, however, prove before the Ethiopian Authorities that he does not belong to the original nationality of his mother, if requested to do so.
• A child born in lawful marriage of an Ethiopian mother with a foreigner is always able to recover the benefit to Ethiopian nationality, provided he lives in Ethiopia and proves he is completely divested of the paternal nationality.
Nationality of children legitimated by lawful marriage between Ethiopian and foreign subjects
• If the lawful marriage according to the national law of the foreign father is posterior to the birth of the child issued from his relations with an Ethiopian woman, the child legitimated through this subsequent marriage follows the nationality of his foreign father only on condition that the national law of the latter confers upon him the foreign nationality with all inhering rights. Otherwise the child preserves his Ethiopian nationality.
Nationality of children legitimated without subsequent marriage of foreign father with mother being Ethiopian subject
• The legitimation, without subsequent lawful marriage between the foreign father and the Ethiopian mother, of the child issued from the relation outside marriage deprives the child of his Ethiopian nationality only if the legitimation, made in accordance with the forms of law of the foreign father, confers upon the child thus legitimated the nationality of his father with all inhering right.
FAQ
Is there a dual citizenship in Ethiopia?
NO, The Ethiopian Law does not by any means allow dual citizenship
What is Renouncing Ethiopian citizenship?
Renouncing citizenship is a voluntary act of letting go of one’s citizenship. Ethiopian nationality law sates the following important points on renouncing Ethiopian citizenship
• Any Ethiopian who has acquired or has been guaranteed the acquisition of the nationality of another state shall have the right to renounce his Ethiopian nationality.
• The renunciation of the nationality of a minor child pursuant to Sub-Article (1) of this Article shall be effected by the joint decision of his parents or, where one of his parents is a foreigner, by the decision of the Ethiopian parent. (ibid.)
• Loss of Ethiopian Nationality upon Acquisition of Other Nationality
• An Ethiopian who acquires another nationality by virtue of being born to a parent having a foreign nationality or by being born abroad shall be deemed to have voluntarily renounced his Ethiopian nationality unless he has declared to the Authority his option to retain it by renouncing his other nationality within one year after attaining the age of majority, or unless there has been an earlier express renunciation of his Ethiopian nationality pursuant to Article 19 (3) of this Proclamation.
