Nigerien nationality law is regulated by the Constitution of Niger, as amended; the Nigerien 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 Niger. 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. Nigerien nationality is typically obtained under the jus sanguinis, i.e. by birth in Niger or abroad to parents with Nigerien 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 Niger at birth or later in life through naturalization.
By birth Nigeriens who acquire nationality at birth include:
Children born anywhere to at least one parent who is Nigerien; Children born in Niger to a parent who was also born in Niger; or Newborn foundlings born in the country 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 understand the customs and traditions of Niger and are integrated into the society. However, the residency requirement is restrictive, requiring that the applicant provide a certificate of their original nationality and proof of a residency permit in Niger for ten years. Because people born in Niger to foreign parents, but who have always lived in the country; persons of Malian heritage, who live in Niger under the terms of a bilateral treaty; and persons who are citizens of one of the member states of the Economic Community of West African States, who are entitled to free movement among member states, are not typically required to obtain a residency permit, proving residency is difficult. There are no provisions for legally adopted children to acquire nationality in the Nationality Code. General provisions are that applicants have good character and conduct with no criminal convictions resulting in incarceration. Besides foreigners meeting the criteria, other persons who may be naturalized include:
Children who have been legitimated by a Nigerien parent, at the time of completion of the legal process; Minor children are automatically naturalized when their parent acquires nationality; The spouse of a Nigerien national after a three-year residency period; or Persons who have performed exceptional service to the nation may naturalize without a residency period.
Loss of nationality There are no provisions in the nationality laws for Nigerien nationals to renounce their nationality. Nigeriens of origin may lose their nationality for performing actions on behalf of another country without authorization. Naturalized persons may be denaturalized in Niger for disloyalty to the state; committing crimes against the state or state security; or for committing ordinary crimes. Persons who previously had nationality, were not deprived of it, and wish to repatriate must request reinstatement, which is discretionary.
Dual nationality Since 2014, Niger has allowed nationals to hold dual nationality.
History African empires and outsider contact (1200–1900) The Hausa, Maouri, Songhai and Zarma peoples living in the area of what is now known as Niger were pushed south with the arrival in the 11th century of the Tuareg people, who settled in the Aïr Mountains, by clashes between nomadic and sedentary life. The Tuareg established control over the northern two-thirds of the area, while on their borders the Kanem–Bornu Empire ruled to the east and the Songhai Empire controlled territory to the west. The Tuareg, along with Fulani and Toubou people, led the caravans involved in the Trans-Saharan trade network, making cooperation between the border empires and traders imperative. In 1405, (also d'Isalguier), a French explorer, traversed West Africa, reaching Gao on the Niger River. The Portuguese extensively explored the western coast, and in 1445 reached the Senegal River. By 1453, Venetian explorer Alvise Cadamosto had also visited the region. From the fifteenth century, Europeans worked to develop political and commercial ties in West Africa.
In 1591, Moroccan invaders attacked the Songhai Empire, leading to its decline and a fracture in its structure into separate vassal states of the Mali and Bornu Empires. Hausa states had emerged as centers of power in the south through the expansion of trade. The Bornu Empire was weakened by several succession crises and neglect of its military's preparedness, but maintained a presence in the area over the next three centuries. In the seventeenth century, the Dutch replaced the Portuguese in West Africa, and the French developed a trading center at Saint-Louis in 1659. In 1677, they captured the Dutch stronghold at Gorée. From these Senegalese bases, they expanded their influence in the region, establishing trading posts at Assinie, Grand-Bassam and Porto-Novo.
Tuareg raids of the northern borders of the Bornu Empire intensified at the turn of the eighteenth century. Further pressure upon the empire was the result of the expansion of the Wadai Empire to its east. Conflict led to demographic shifts and a lack of confidence in Bornu rulers, and the break up of the empire into successor states. Around 1740, the Damagaram emerged as a small vassal state of the Bornu Empire. Fula jihads against the Hausa states in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries gave rise to the Sokoto Caliphate. As Bornu began its decline, conflict between the empire and the Caliphate allowed the Sultanate of Damagaram to gain its independence and control over the eastern part of Niger, bringing it into contact with the Kano Emirate, which was aligned with the Sokoto Caliphate and a rival to the area trade networks. The rivalry between these groups dominated the territory throughout the nineteenth century.
European involvement in coastal Africa led to increasing interest in the last half of the eighteenth century to explore the interiors of Africa. In 1830, the course of the Lower Niger was traced. In 1849, Heinrich Barth, a German explorer from Hamburg, as part of an official British expedition led by James Richardson was sent to the region to explore the possibilities for trade. Barth reported that wars between the Bornu and Sokoto Empires had reduced the area into anarchy. He explored along the Middle Niger through 1855, reporting intact trade networks, but noted that internal strife and external attacks made the political structures vulnerable. In 1863, the French extended their control in the Kingdom of Dahomey from Porto-Novo east to Appa. Fearful that the French might move to claim Badagry, the British made treaties in Addo, Oke-Odan, and Pocrah to cut off French advancement toward Abeokuta, creating tension with the French.
In 1864, the British founded a settlement at Lokoja with the intent of establishing commerce, but it failed in 1869. The loss of the trading center did not diminish interest in the area, and four trading firms – the West African Company, Central African Company, Williams Brothers, and James Pinnock were operating along the Niger by 1878. The following year, these were joined into the United African Company, which later became the National African Company. France continued to expand from Senegal and in 1882 having gained control of the territories along the Mellacorée, Nunez, and Pongo Rivers, as well as Tombo Island by establishing trading posts over the area, created the colony Rivières du Sud (Southern Rivers), now in Guinea. The next year, the French reached the Niger Basin and began occupying Bamako. Conflicts during the 'Scramble for Africa', culminated in the 1884–1885 Berlin Conference in which the colonial powers designated portions of Africa into European spheres of influence. In the process, France gained control of the Upper Niger Valley, which encompasses areas of modern Mali and Niger.
France set about negotiating treaties with local leaders in the area, securing signatures to establish protectorates. They first arrived in what is now Niger in 1891, when Parfait-Louis Monteil signed a treaty with the Liptako Emirate. The treaty was reaffirmed in 1895. In 1894, Captain led an expedition from Dahomey with the intent of exploring the Niger River to Timbuktu. He obtained a series of treaties to establish protectorates with local leaders in 1895, such as the Dendi chiefs Aliou of Karimama (Caroumama) and Abdoulaye of Gaya-sur-Niger. In 1897, Marius Gabriel Cazemajou led another expedition securing a protectorate with the Kebbi Emirate, which was signed on 19 January 1898, granting the French the lands of the Kebbi, as well as its tributary chiefdoms of the Dendi, Maouri, and Zarma (or Djerma) peoples. Later that year, the Central African Mission (Mission Afrique Centrale) led by and set out to secure treaties over Southern Niger. The boundary with Nigeria was settled with Britain in 1898 and in 1900, France conquered the Sultanate of Damagaram, claiming possession of all of the territory of Niger except those areas controlled by the Tuareg and Toubou in the northern part of the region.
French colonial period (1900–1960) On 20 December 1900, Niger was established as a military territory of France, with headquarters in Sorbon Haoussa, near Boubon, and part of French Sudan within French West Africa. 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.