In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, nationality law is regulated by the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Congolese Nationality Code, the Congolese Civil Code, and various international agreements to which the country is a signatory. These laws determine who is, or is eligible to be, a national of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The legal means to acquire nationality, formal legal membership in a nation, differ from the domestic relationship of rights and obligations between a national and the nation, known as citizenship.
Congolese nationality is typically obtained under the principle of jus soli, i.e. by birth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or jus sanguinis, by birth abroad to parents with Congolese nationality. It can be granted to persons with an affiliation to the country, or to a permanent resident who has lived in the country for a given period of time through naturalization.
Acquisition of nationality Nationality can be acquired in the Democratic Republic of the Congo at birth or later in life through naturalization. Congolese naturalization is typically granted on the basis of either adoption or choice.
By birth Those who acquire nationality at birth include:
Children born anywhere who have at least one parent who is a Congolese national; Children born in the country to parents who are stateless; or Abandoned children or orphans discovered in the territory whose parents are unknown.
By naturalization Naturalization can be granted to persons who have resided in the territory for a sufficient period of time to confirm they speak a language commonly in use in the country and understand the customs and traditions of the society. General provisions are that applicants have good character and conduct; have no convictions for corruption or sex crimes; have not participated in genocide, terrorism, treason, or war crimes; and have resided in the country for seven years. The acquisition of nationality in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is restrictive as it requires that applicants have performed distinguished service to the nation or that naturalization will benefit the state. Applications must be approved by both the Council of Ministers and the National Assembly, before being granted by the President. Upon approval an applicant must renounce any other nationality. Besides foreigners meeting the criteria, other persons who may be naturalized include:
Children born to foreigners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who are still residing in the DRC at majority may obtain nationality of origin by request; The legal spouse of a Congolese national can obtain nationality through marriage after seven years of matrimony; Minor children can be automatically naturalized when their parent acquires nationality, if they have resided in the country for five years; or Adoptees who have been legally adopted by at least one parent who was a Congolese national.
Loss of nationality Congolese nationals cannot be denaturalized, if they were born in the territory, and there are no provisions allowing them to renounce their nationality. Those who have previously lost their nationality may reacquire it if they meet the conditions to naturalize and have maintained ties to the nation. Nationality may be lost in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for having dual nationality or for fraud in a naturalization petition.
Dual nationality The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo does not typically allow dual nationality. There is a moratorium in place since 2007 regarding depriving persons of their Congolese nationality if they have multiple nationalities.
Re-acquisition of Belgian nationality Differing rulings have occurred in judicial cases in Belgium regarding whether Congolese nationals can recover their Belgian nationality. Under Article 24 of the 1984 Nationality Code, as amended in 2000 and 2012, a person who had, but lost other than by renunciation, their Belgian nationality, could reacquire it if at any time during their life, when they were a national of Belgium, they resided for at least one year in Belgium. In 2011, a judgment issued in the Court of Cassation ruled (Case n°C.10.0394.F) that Congolese-Belgians who had lost Belgian nationality at independence, were not entitled to reacquire Belgian nationality because their status was not defined in the nationality laws but in the Civil Code of the Congo. Further, the court weighed the terms of the 22 December 1961 Law concerning obtaining Belgian nationality which required that persons born in the Belgian Congo prior to independence to reside in Belgium for three years prior to 30 June 1960 to attain nationality and the 1984 Nationality Code which required a two-year residency for Congolese to obtain Belgian nationality. The opposite conclusion was reached in 2018 by the Brussels' Court of Appeals regarding a case (2017/AR/701) brought in the French-speaking Family Court () in 2016. According to the appellate ruling, persons born in the Congo between 1908 and independence in 1960 were Belgian non-citizen nationals because there was a sole sovereign state administering two territories, thus their nationality was identical and dependent upon residing in Belgian territory.
History African Kingdoms (1400–1885) In the region, inhabitants were typically arranged in lineage groups, known as kanda. From the early fifteenth century, a political system evolved wherein a single person was elected and began representing multiple kanda rather than his own kin to establish cooperation in trade and taxation, so that goods could safely pass among them. Marriage was used to create alliances among various groups and solidify cooperation. As the networks begin kanda grew and power accumulated, weaker groups were absorbed and became subjugated to the ruler. Governors ruled chiefdoms throughout the region extracting tributes, passing a portion on to the main ruler. By the time Diogo Cão, a Portuguese explorer, first established contact with the Kingdom of Kongo in 1483 it was the most powerful kingdom in the western part of the Congo Basin.
In 1491, they sent a fleet including priests, soldiers and builders, who after making their way to the capital, baptized king Nzinga a Nkuwu, who took the name João, and five of his leading chieftains. After the death of João's son, Afonso I of Kongo, the kingdom weakened and saw a succession of short-lived monarchs reign between 1545 and 1568, when Jaga warriors invaded the kingdom. In the 1620s the Dutch began trading in the region at a time when the economic and political power were shifting from the centralized government to the provinces. Different factions of the kingdom established relationships with varying European powers throughout the early seventeenth century. A succession dispute in 1665, plunged the kingdom into civil war eventually fracturing the kingdom. Though Pedro IV of Kongo was able to restore the unified kingdom in 1715, by proposing that succession shift through various kinship groups, the peace was insecure and war reignited in 1730. By the mid-eighteenth century British and French traders had developed ports in the region and diverted much of the trade to ports under their control. The chiefs of the Kongo became increasingly less important and their authority disintegrated.
To the east, between the Kwango River and Lake Tanganyika, the Kingdom of Luba emerged after 1500 and the Lunda Empire, around 1680. The area was dotted with agricultural chiefdoms, such as the Hemba, Kalundwe, Kanincin, Kanyok, Mpimin, Nsanga, and Ruund, which traded and intermarried with each other. Initially these groups based their socio-political hierarchy on kinship links, with the village headman overseeing the community of his extended family. Typically he was assisted by a council of elders and an electoral council which selected successors. As Luba expanded, it incorporated the Kalundwe, Kanyok, and Kikondja kingdoms. Under the rules of state which developed in the Luba Kingdom from the early eighteenth century, upon the death of the king, his capital became autonomous and was administrated by a council who served a female medium, believed to be the reincarnated, previous sovereign. Successor kings relocated to new capitals located near river basins, to enable them to manage commerce. In the Lunda Empire, the administration also was founded on kinship ties, but under their system an heir inherited the identity of his successor, including his family members and socio-political roles.
Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Luba rulers expanded their authority and spheres of control. Over the same period, the Lunda affiliated groups created a network of interconnected, though independent states without a strong central authority. The two states interacted and shared a trade network with their rulers redistributing tributes and resources among their clients and subjects. The arrival of the Portuguese and introduction of the slave trade disrupted the authority of the rulers to monopolize trade networks and led to invasion by peoples who were not native to the region. By the end of the 1880s, factional conflict and slave raiding had contributed to the decline of the kingdoms. Simultaneously in Europe, there was widespread belief that the slave trade could be ended by diverting trade way from slaves and toward other goods and materials. Intervention in Africa was seen as not only a means to provide humanitarian protection, but also a means of developing new markets with valuable raw materials.
In 1875, Verney Lovett Cameron completed his quest to explore the Congo Basin and became the first European to cross Africa from east to west. News of his travels in the region reported that the region had potential for commercial and economic development. As he explored, Cameron had made agreements with the local chiefs to allow the British to develop commerce. Britain was unwilling to ratify the agreements and annex the territory at the time, but the economic opportunity appealed to Leopold II of Belgium. In 1876, he hosted an International Geographical Conference at the Palais Royal in Brussels with the object of convincing the dignitaries of Europe that his motives for acquiring a colony in Africa were humanitarian and scientific. At the conference, to which he had invited those most involved in exploring and studying the geography of Africa, Leopold proposed forming the International African Society, or the International Association for the Exploration and Civilization of the Congo to centralize and disseminate information about the efforts being made in Africa. The proposal was approved by the conference delegates and Leopold was elected president of the organization.
In 1877, Welsh explorer, Henry Morton Stanley completed an east-west trek across the African continent, charting the Congo. News of his travels reached Leopold, who began making plans to hire Stanley to help him acquire territory in the Congo. Disinterest for colonizing by Britain and the United States, led Stanley to accept an offer in 1878, from Leopold to explore and establish a colony. The following year, Leopold quietly bought out all of the other shareholders of the Committee for Studies of the Upper Congo, using the private holding company to disguise his funding and sole authority to make decisions about the development of the Congo. Stanley traveled through the Congo securing treaties from over 450 local chiefs, granting Leopold's private company their lands and a trade monopoly over them in exchange for a minimal share of trade goods. In 1884, his mission complete, Stanley returned to Europe. Leopold diplomatically maneuvered among world powers to gain recognition of his sovereignty over the area which he and Stanley claimed. At the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 Leopold gained their endorsement of his plans.
Belgian colonial period (1885–1960)