Batswana nationality law is regulated by the 1966 Constitution of Botswana, as amended; the Citizenship Act 1998, and its revisions; and international agreements entered into by the government of Botswana. These laws determine who is, or is eligible to be, a national of Botswana. 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. The Botswana nationality is typically obtained on the principle of jus sanguinis, i.e. by birth to parents with Botswana nationality. It can be granted to persons who have lived in the country for a specific period of time, who have performed distinguished service to the nation or who have an affiliation to the country through naturalisation.
Botswana and Commonwealth citizenship
Botswana citizens are also Commonwealth citizens by default since independence on 30 September 1966.
Acquiring Botswana nationality
Nationality in Botswana is acquired at birth or later in life by naturalisation.
By birth
Persons born anywhere to at least one parent who is a national of Botswana.
By naturalisation
Regular naturalisation in Botswana is acquired by submitting an application to the Minister responsible for the administration of immigration. Applicants must provide evidence that they are of good character; have familiarity with Setswana or another tribal language of the country; intend to live in Botswana; and have resided within the territory for a cumulative period of ten years, and without break for the year immediately preceding an application for naturalisation. Besides foreigners, persons who may attain nationality by naturalisation include:
The spouse of a Motswana (Botswana national), provided they have resided in the country for five years; Angolan refugees under a tripartite agreement between the two nations and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, who do not wish to repatriate to Angola; Minor children of persons who have become naturalised Batswana; Adoptees, upon completion of an adoption order; or Persons who have performed distinguished service to the country, at the discretion of the President without requirements.
Loss of nationality
Batswana nationals may renounce their nationality provided they have legal majority and capacity and have obtained other nationality. Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights forbids revoking nationality without a fair trial and due process. In the case Modise v. Botswana (2000) the African Human Rights Commission found against Botswana and cautioned that failure to recognise a person's legal status and attempts to denationalise individuals violates the charter, causing personal harm. Denaturalisation may occur if a person holds dual nationality that does not meet specified exceptions; if a person obtained nationality through fraud, false representation, or concealment; if they have committed crimes against the state; if they have committed certain acts deemed disloyal; or if they no longer reside in the country.
Dual nationality
Botswana does not allow dual nationality except in the case of a minor who must declare a choice upon reaching majority, or in the case that foreign nationality is automatically acquired by marriage. Those deprived of dual nationality may resume their Botswana nationality through a legal procedure. However, renunciation of the prior nationality is always required.
History
Tswana chiefdoms (1700–1884)
The Ngwaketse chiefdom was founded around 1700 by migrants of the Hurutshe and Kwena clans who settled among the Khalagari and Rolong peoples in the southeastern portion of what would become Botswana. Population growth and competition over control of trade routes caused warfare and fractures in the Phofu chiefdom of their traditional home in the western Transvaal region, leading to their migration. By 1750 the Ngwaketse chiefdom was a powerful and militaristic state in control of copper production, cattle raiding, and hunting near present-day Kanye. Another group of Kwena migrants settled near Molepolole, as did a group which established the Ngwato chiefdoms in the north of the territory around Shoshong, which expanded west across the Kalahari Desert. By 1770, a group broke off from the Ngwato and established the Tawana chiefdom near Lake Ngami. These groups established trade routes from Angola to the Cape Colony to Mozambique, which led to raids to acquire cattle, furs, ivory, slaves, and other goods. From the turn of the nineteenth century a period, known as the Difaqane, of forced migration, conflict and drought created instability for the inhabitants of southern Africa.
In 1824, the Ngwaketse chiefdom was attacked by a large group of Kololo refugees, who had been pushed north from Maputo Bay. Moving north, the Kololo continued into Ngwato territory before finally settling in what is now known as Zambia in 1835. In 1828, Ndebele people from the Zulu Kingdom attacked the Ngwaketse and Tawana chieftains, forcing them into vassalage. The Ndebele were later expelled to an area of modern Zimbabwe by the Boers, but continued to be a threat to the chiefdoms in the territory. The Tswana chiefdoms regained control over their trade routes and territory in the 1840s. The Tswana states of the Ngwaketse, Kwena, Ngwato and Tawana organised their subjects into wards under local chiefs who paid tribute to the head chief. The head chief was expected to maintain stability through legislation, decision-making and allocation of resources. He also had the authority to demand labour to complete projects of value to the community. Wards each contained a Kgotla, a community council, which governed policy as well as judicial matters for a village. Women were forbidden to participate in the council, and were unable to seek recourse before it. Villages were linked by tribal affiliations and kinship networks of households. Households in Tswana society were patriarchal and at the center of the social, economic, and political structures. Paternal kinship formed the basis for determining inheritance of wealth, typically land and cattle, and wealth determined socio-political influence and power within the community. Women held subservient positions socially and under the law and wives and children were legally dependent on the head of the clan or household.
The four Tswana states built trade ties and roads, allowing missionaries of the London Missionary Society to establish stations within their territories between 1844 and 1877. From 1852, Boers began raiding in Kwena and Ngwato territories, and in 1870 attempted to establish farms in Ngwaketse territory. The Boers were repelled and eventually gave up their expansionist policies, formally recognizing territorial sovereignty of the chiefs for a decade. Then in the 1880s, they renewed their aims of acquiring Tswana territory. Alarmed by Boer expansion and the growth of German influence in South West Africa, British missionaries and commercial entities aligned with the Tswana chiefdoms. When the Boers invaded British territory and established Stellaland and the State of Goshen, declaring a protectorate over the area in 1882, the reluctant British decided to act.
British protectorate (1884–1966)
In 1884, in response to a request for assistance by inhabitants in the territory of the Tswana people, and to protect their own interests from Boer, German, and Portuguese encroachment, the British crown established the Bechuanaland Protectorate for the area north of the Molopo River. The territory south of the river became a crown colony, British Bechuanaland, which was merged into the Cape Colony in 1895. When British protectorates were established in 1815, there was little difference between the rights of British subjects and protected persons. By 1914, British protectorates were considered to be foreign territories lacking an internal government. When Britain extended this status over a territory, it took responsibility for both internal and external administration, including defence and foreign relations. Indigenous persons who were born in a protectorate were known as British Protected Persons (BPP) and were not entitled to be British nationals. BPPs had no right of return to the United Kingdom and were unable to exercise rights of citizenship; however, they could be issued a passport and could access diplomatic services when travelling abroad. Persons born in a British protectorate to a father who was a British national derived their nationality from their parent.
British subjects living in the Bechuanaland Protectorate (1884–1966)
In 1911, at the Imperial Conference a decision was made to draft a common nationality code for use across the British Empire. The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914 allowed local jurisdictions in the self-governing Dominions to continue regulating nationality in their territories, but also established an imperial nationality scheme for use throughout the realm. The uniform law, which went into effect on 1 January 1915, required a married woman to derive her nationality from her spouse, meaning if he was British, she was also, and if he was foreign, so was she. It stipulated that upon loss of nationality of a husband, a wife could declare that she wished to remain British. It also provided that if a marriage had terminated, through death or divorce, a British-born national who had lost her status through marriage could reacquire British nationality through naturalisation without meeting a residency requirement. The statute reiterated common law provisions for natural-born persons born within the realm on or after the effective date. By using the word person, the statute nullified legitimacy requirements for jus soli nationals, meaning an illegitimate child could derive nationality from its mother. For those born abroad on or after the effective date, legitimacy was still required, and could only be derived by a child from a British father (one generation), who was natural-born or naturalised. Naturalisations required five years residence or service to the crown.
Amendments to the British Nationality Act were enacted in 1918, 1922, 1933 and 1943 changing derivative nationality by descent and modifying slightly provisions for women to lose their nationality upon marriage. Because of a rise in statelessness, a woman who did not automatically acquire her husband's nationality upon marriage or upon his naturalisation in another country, did not lose their British status after 1933. The 1943 revision allowed a child born abroad at any time to be a British national by descent if the Secretary of State agreed to register the birth. Under the terms of the British Nationality Act 1948, British nationals in the Bechuanaland Protectorate were reclassified at that time as "Citizens of the UK and Colonies" (CUKC). The basic British nationality scheme did not change overmuch, and typically those who were previously defined as British remained the same. Changes included that wives and children no longer automatically acquired the status of the husband or father, children who acquired nationality by descent no longer were required to make a retention declaration, and registrations for children born abroad were extended.
British protected persons living in the Bechuanaland Protectorate (1885–1966)