Ivorian nationality law is regulated by the Constitution of Ivory Coast, as amended; the Ivorian Nationality Code, and its revisions; and various international agreements to which the country is a signatory. These laws determine who is, or is eligible to be, a national of Ivory Coast. 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. Nationality describes the relationship of an individual to the state under international law, whereas citizenship is the domestic relationship of an individual within the nation. Ivorian nationality is typically obtained under the principle of jus soli, i.e. by birth in Ivory Coast, or jus sanguinis, i.e. by birth in Ivory Coast or abroad to parents with Ivorian 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 Ivory Coast at birth or later in life through naturalization.
By birth Those who acquire nationality at birth include:
Children born in Ivory Coast to at least one parent with Ivorian nationality; or Children born abroad to at least one parent with Ivorian nationality, after completion of an administrative registration process; or
By naturalization Naturalization can be granted to persons who have resided in the territory for a sufficient period of time to confirm they understand the customs and traditions of Ivory Coast. General provisions are that applicants have good character and conduct; are in good physical and mental health; and have adequate means to be self-sufficient. Applicants must typically have resided in the country for five years. Besides foreigners meeting the criteria, other persons who may be naturalized include:
Children legally adopted by an Ivorian parent, at the time of completion of a legal adoption automatically derive Ivorian nationality; The spouse of an Ivorian national; Minor children may automatically naturalize when their parent acquires nationality; Persons who have rendered important service to the nation may naturalize after a two-year residency; or Persons who have performed exceptional service to the nation without a residency period.
Loss of nationality Ivorian nationals can renounce their nationality pending approval by the state. Ivorians of origin may lose their nationality for voluntarily acquiring another nationality or participating in actions, like voting or serving in public office, that indicates they are the national of another country. Naturalized persons may be denaturalized in Ivory for disloyalty to the state; committing crimes against the state or state security; ordinary crimes; or for fraud, misrepresentation, or concealment in a naturalization petition. Persons who previously had nationality and wish to repatriate if they voluntarily lost their status must establish residency and request reinstatement.
Dual nationality Dual nationality is typically not allowed in Ivory Coast except in the instance of automatic bestowal of nationality for married women or for naturalized persons.
History African empires and European contact (1471–1842) In 1471, Portuguese explorers João de Santarém and Pêro Escobar discovered the gold trade which was active in what is now Ghana and Ivory Coast. The discovery led to the decision to build a fortress and trading station, São Jorge da Mina (now Elmina Castle) in 1481 on the Ghanaian coast. Portugal's exclusive rights to the west coast of Africa were confirmed by the papal bull Romanus Pontifex issued by Pope Nicholas V, which was reconfirmed in the Inter caetera issued in 1493 by Pope Alexander VI. The Portuguese traded throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries with various groups of Akan-speaking people and the Wangara who brought goods from interior regions. The Wangara were aligned with the Mali Empire with whom the Portuguese had long wanted to establish trade. Ignoring the Portuguese claim, France established a settlement in West Africa on the island of N'Dar, which they called Saint-Louis, in 1659. From that base, they expanded, establishing a settlement and mission at Issiny (also Assinie) in 1687, from which they traded guns for gold and ivory. They abandoned it in 1704, as the area known as the Quaqua Coast was typically outside of the normal trading networks of Europeans because of the difficulty of navigating the territory, as it had no harbors and strong coastal currents, making anchoring difficult.
Political upheaval in the Quaqua Coast in the seventeenth century resulted from waves of migrants hoping to escape the slave trade along the Gold Coast. By the eighteenth century, five major African kingdoms emerged in the region, that controlled the interlocked lagoons upon which commerce depended. Under the typical arrangement, paramount chiefs of the kingdom served as arbiters in disputes, distributed resources, and administered broad control of a region. Villages within the kingdom, made up of kin networks, were administered by headmen, who expanded their control and influence by prudent allocations of goods and services in exchange for loyalty. The Abron Kingdom of Gyaman was founded in the northeastern region, near present-day Amanvi in 1690. The Dyula people moved into the area in the sixteenth century and extended their rule by controlling trade networks within villages of the Senufo people in the north central part of the Quaqua. In 1710, the Dyula captured the city of Kong from which they expanded westward to form the Kong Empire. By 1740, two Anyi kingdoms located in the south east, Indénié and Sanwi, had been established. The Baule Kingdom (also Baoulé), emerged around 1750, breaking away from the Ashanti Confederacy and first settling in the south near Tiassalé before expanding northward to the center of the Quaqua Coast at Bouaké. To engage in trade, Europeans had to negotiate with the chiefs who had control of the lagoons, as the navigational difficulties did not allow them to force their control upon the native populations. When the slave trade was abolished in the first half of the nineteenth century, commerce shifted to agricultural products, specifically palm oil, and the French decided to try to reestablish trade in the area.
French period (1842–1960) In 1842, under instruction of the French Navy, Édouard Bouët-Willaumez negotiated treaties for land concessions at Issiny and Grand-Bassam, for which they received a trade monopoly in exchange for annual tributes. In 1867, the French had secured a similar arrangement for the village of Baoree (also Bacorees or Bahourie), but they had still been unable secure the whole of the Baule Kingdom in 1885. Arthur Verdier was named the resident minister of the two areas in 1878 and instructed to expand commerce in the area. In 1887, Verdier hired Marcel Treich-Laplène and the French government hired Louis-Gustave Binger, sending them to explore and negotiate treaties with the local inhabitants. Each secured agreements with the major kingdoms of the region and when they met in 1889, declared the southern Quaqua Coast a French protectorate. Later expeditions expanded the boundaries of the protectorate and in 1893, Côte d'Ivoire officially became a colony of France.
In 1895, the French established the administration system that would govern its possessions in French West Africa for the next sixty years. A Governor-General was installed and a headquarters was founded in Dakar, in the Colony of Senegal. The Governor-General's authority was extended to Senegal, French Guinea, and the Ivory Coast colonies, and in 1899 to Dahomey and French Sudan. Under Article 109 of the French Constitution of 1848, French territories were to be governed by specific laws until the constitution was extended there. This provision laid the groundwork for nationality legislation based upon whether the native inhabitants were able to be assimilated by adopting European standards. From 1848, those persons who settled in the colonies and were from France were considered nationals who had full rights and were subject to French law. However, those born in the new territories were considered to be nationals without citizenship. Nationals in the older colonies of the Antilles, Guiana, Réunion and parts of India and Senegal were granted political rights, but those in new colonies were confirmed by a decree on 14 July 1865 to be subjects and not citizens, unless they renounced their allegiance to native custom and possessed sufficient understanding of the obligations of citizenship.
Also in 1848, slavery was abolished throughout the French Empire and the Civil Code was extended to all of the French citizens in the colonies. Under the Civil Code, women were legally incapacitated and paternal authority was established over their children. Upon marriage, a woman married to a French man automatically acquired the same nationality as her spouse. Illegitimate children were barred from inheritance and nationality could only be transmitted through a father. Non-citizen nationals were governed by traditional laws concerning marriage and inheritance which placed the well-being of the community above individual rights. These laws prevented a wife from being treated as a slave, required her husband to support her, and entitled her kin to a bride price, to compensate them for the loss of her fertility to their kinship group and secure the legality of the union. Having paid the price for the marriage contract, she and her offspring belonged to the kinship network of her husband and could be inherited if her husband died.
The French Nationality Law of 1889 codified previous statutory laws, changing the French standard from jus sanguinis to jus soli and was extended to the French West Indies. Under its terms, women who would become stateless by the rule to acquire their spouse's nationality were allowed to retain their French nationality upon marriage. The Nationality Law was modified in 1897 when it was extended to the remainder of the French colonies. Clarification in the 1897 decree included that bestowing nationality by birth in French territory only applied to children born in France, restoring descent requirements for the colonies. Under the Code de l'indigénat (Code of Indigenous Status) promulgated for Algeria in 1881 and extended to French West Africa in 1904, nationals in the new colonies followed customary law. The French West African Federation had been founded that year with the existing five colonies, of Dahomey, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Senegal, and French Sudan, and was later expanded to include Mauritania, Niger, and Upper Volta.