We all have heard about ‘Dual Citizenship’. Now, we are quite familiar with ‘citizenship’ that is quite important for an individual to reside in a country irrespective of any origin. What do you mean by the word ‘Citizenship’? Citizenship is nothing but a relationship between an individual and a country or a state of a country to which he or she owes protection or claims for his or her rights. This citizenship is important for a person residing in a particular country so that he or she can enjoy all the freedom rights of the country along with responsibilities that are being accompanied by the freedom rights.
Citizens of a particular country have many duties, rights as per that country’s rules and regulations. These are partially or not extended to the foreigners or the alien citizens of the country and other non-citizens who are already residing in the country.
Political rights like the right to vote and the right to hold public office, in general, are open to only the permanent residents or the citizens of the country. The usual duties of the citizens are paying taxes on time and help the country in any case of emergency or military service.
In Kenya, citizenship can be acquired by one of the ways is by birth or registration. This citizenship should not get lost through marriage or through the dissolution of marriage.
There are some Rules and Applicable Laws for Kenyan Citizenship
- The Constitution of Kenya provides or issues the citizenship of the country under applicable conditions following the laws.
- The Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act, 2011 which implements Chapter 3 of the Constitution was commenced on 30th August, 2011.
- The Act effectively banned the Kenya Citizenship Act Cap. 170, the Immigration Act Cap. 172 and the Aliens Restriction Act, Cap. 173, Laws of Kenya.
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Dual Citizenship
Many of us may not be aware of the ‘dual citizenship’ of Kenya. This means that a person has the citizenship of both the countries at the same time and this law is applicable only under the conditions that will be met by the particular individual who will opt for the dual citizenship. Each country has its own laws and rules and regulations based on the policy of the country that everyone should follow and abide by.
People can opt for Dual Citizenship under the following:
- Anyone who has the citizenship of any other country is recognized as the citizen of Kenya automatically if he or she is a citizen of Kenya by birth. It is valid only till then when he or she can prove that his or her parents are from Kenya and was a Kenyan citizen at his or her birth. The passport or National ID card should be provided to the officials as a proof.
- Kenyan citizen who wants the citizenship of some other countries then he or she Kenya renounce the citizenship of Kenya in order to get a citizenship of the desired country. They are entitled to their Kenyan citizenship again if they apply for the same in a prescribed manner.
- Now if a person voluntarily renounces Kenyan citizenship then again he or she has to apply for the citizenship of the Kenya in the prescribed manner as per the Ministry of Immigration and Registration of Persons, so in all total it may take a period of 1 year.
- KENYAN citizen who has Dual citizenship has either Last the Kenyan citizenship or had renounced the Kenyan citizenship at the age of 23, then he or she will automatically be considered as the citizen of Kenya according to the law of the constitution of Kenya.
- The Kenyan citizens who will be applying or may have shown interest to apply for the dual citizenship, then he or she must show the officials of the Kenya about the dual citizenship of the country which he or she is taking within a month after issuance of the citizenship. Failure to do so is taken as a criminal offense against the person who has Dual citizenship.
- It is said in the Kenyan constitution under Section 8(3) that the person who has opted for dual citizenship must inform the officials of Kenya about the dual citizenship within three months after he or she gets the permission of the dual citizenship.
- Under section 8(4), it is said that if a Kenyan citizen fails to disclose about his or her dual citizenship then he or she must be liable to pay the fine which shall not exceed the 5,000,000 shillings or maybe even imprisoned for about three years or both. This is taken as a commitment to offense.
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Requirements that are needed to get a Dual Citizenship in Kenya
- A declaration form 3 is needed to show by the person which should be completed and also signed by Official Stamp.
- The person must have 2 Passport size photographs.
- He or she Should definitely carry with him or her the Kenyan national identity card both original and copies.
- The citizen applying for the dual citizenship Should carry both the original passport and the non Kenyan passport with him or her.
- The person should also have the certificate of citizenship and also carry the Police clearance certificate.
Visa exemption or Passport Endorsement
The citizens of the Kenya who already has dual citizenship are exempted from applying for of visa when they are traveling to Kenya with a non-Kenyan passport provided that The person is a Kenyan citizen. The passport may be endorsed at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
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The following documents are required
- Declaration form for should be duly filled by the citizen who are applying for the dual citizenship and wants their passport to be endorsed.
- The citizen should carry with him to passport size photographs and the must is a birth certificate.
- Since the person has dual citizenship that is the citizenship of both the countries, then he or she must carry the citizenship passport of both the Kenyan and non Kenyan country.
- The most important thing is the money. The processing fee is 500 in Kenyan currency.
