28 Mar 2022

In an endeavour to improve service delivery, the Ministry of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs re-engineered the citizenship process in 2019 and as a result some service standards were set for implementation. 

Answering a question in Parliament recently, Minister Anna Mokgethi said in respect of certificate of naturalisation, the set standard time was 18 months, while naturalisation by a foreign spouse was 18 months. 

She said in respect of resumption of citizenship the set standard time was 30 days while citizenship by settlement was 46 days, adding registration of a minor child of a citizen was 35 days. 

She said the set standard to register an adopted child over three years was 35 days, while renunciation of foreign citizenship was 17 days. 

The set standard time for renunciation of Botswana citizenship was 29 days, whilst certificate of citizenship in cases of doubt was 35 days, she said. 

Ms Mokgethi informed MPs that she was aware that some people had been waiting for their citizenship applications for some years and acknowledged that at times the ministry encountered some challenges in meeting the set turnaround time for processing applications. She attributed that to incomplete information on the applications resulting in difficulties in getting contact with the applicants, delays by customers in submitting the necessary information, failure by customers to honour the citizenship interviews, communication breakdown due to frequent changes in addresses without notifying the office while in some cases the applicants relocated from the country. 

“In addition, delays occasioned by the role played by other stakeholders in the citizenship application process and sometimes the complexity of each individual case such as during the assessment with the observed customers may have had a criminal record,” she said. 

She added that the record showed that 944 applicants were waiting for the citizenship applications to be processed with a total of 269 applications ready for their interviews while 432 applications were awaiting assessment, out of which 404 were pending additional information. 

Furthermore, she said 223 applicants had already been interviewed and awaiting feedback on the outcome of their applications, adding that 47 were from Maun, 69 from Francistown and 107 from Gaborone. 

Meanwhile, Ms Mokgethi informed the house that there were two types of renunciation of citizenship applications which were renunciation of foreign citizenship and renunciation of Botswana citizenship. In respect of the renunciation of Botswana citizenship, she said upon completion of the process in the respective country of origin, the ministry took 17 days to facilitate the customer. 

“The ministry however has no control over this process as different countries have different procedures and processes. The Indian High Commission takes up to three days to effect the renunciation while Zimbabweans have to go to their Ministry of Home Affairs in Harare to apply for renunciation and the process cost US$200, taking one day.”

In addition, she said the 1954 United Nations Convention relating to the status of stateless persons defined such as someone who was not recognised as a national by any state under the operation of its laws. She said Botswana had been party to the convention since April 1969. 

However, she explained that she was not aware of anyone considered stateless in the country, save for persons who were enjoying dual citizenship who may be temporarily rendered stateless as a result of failure to comply with provisions of sections 15 of the Citizenship Act. 

“In order to mitigate against this challenge, the ministry actually facilitates the affected persons to regularise their citizenship status by applying for resumption of citizenship. If any person is to be considered stateless such a person will be eligible to be registered as a citizen of Botswana in accordance with the provisions of section 10b of the Citizenship Act.” 

She said the turnaround time for applications for resumption of citizenship was 30 days hence most people found themselves in such a situation mainly because they were not aware of the resumption of the citizenship process. 

“In the event that one failed to comply with the provisions of the law by not renouncing their other citizenship before the attainment of the age of majority, the ministry usually facilitates such a person by ensuring that they resume their Botswana Citizenship to avoid rendering them stateless.” She added. Ms Mokgethi however indicated that explained that she was not aware of any Batswana who lost government sponsorship through the Department of Tertiary Education Financing because of the renunciation issues. 

She said the ministry had put in place an administrative process to ensure that they were facilitated so that they did not lose their sponsorships. 

Francistown West MP, Mr Ignatius Moswaane had asked the minister to state, among others, the set standard (time) for processing of citizenship applications. ends