Botswana · Citizenship by naturalisation
Dual Citizenship Reform (Citizenship (Amendment) Act 23 of 2024)
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act No. 23 of 2024 was assented on 29 October 2024, with commencement listed as on notice. No commencement Order or Statutory Instrument has surfaced. The Minister stated publicly in February 2025 that the changes are in effect, but cited no gazette date. Get written Ministry confirmation before relying on this.
The 2024 Act is widely reported as opening dual citizenship for Botswana. For people born Batswana, that is true. For naturalised citizens, which is what your clients would be, the Act still gives the Minister power to demand renunciation on pain of losing citizenship. It also defines a dual citizen as someone who is Botswanan by birth or descent. No agency site flags this distinction.
Qualifying routes
12 months' continuous residence immediately preceding, plus 10 years' aggregate in the preceding 12 years. That works out to roughly 11 years minimum.
5 years' aggregate residence, plus a written declaration of intention lodged at least 2.5 years before. The language requirement can be waived.
The facts
- Total landed cost
- The official fees are nominal. The real cost is roughly 11 years of residence.
- Route type
- By residence
- Timeline
- 11–15 years (Roughly 11 years of residence before you can even apply)
- Physical presence
- 12 months' continuous residence immediately preceding the application, plus 10 years' aggregate within the preceding 12 years
- Family
- A foreign spouse can qualify through the 5-year route with a declaration of intention
- Permanent residency
- Permanent residency after 5 years' lawful continuous residence, plus what the law calls significant contributions to Botswana
- Citizenship
- This is the citizenship route
- Language test
- You need sufficient knowledge of Setswana or another language spoken by a tribal community in Botswana. English does not qualify. A ministerial waiver is possible under section 13(2A).
- Dual citizenship
- Not permitted. You would have to renounce.
- Requirements
- 12 months of continuous residence immediately before applying10 years of total residence within the preceding 12 yearssufficient knowledge of Setswana or a tribal languagegood character
- The dual citizenship reform does not protect naturalised citizens. The substituted section 18(4)(b) still lets the Minister deprive a person who became a citizen of Botswana by registration or naturalisation, if that person fails, when required by the Minister, to renounce their citizenship of any other country within a specified time. The Act's own definition of dual citizen covers only citizens by birth or descent.
- Section 18(4)(e) allows deprivation of a naturalised citizen who has lived outside Botswana for 7 continuous years without giving notice of intent to retain citizenship. That is a trap for exactly the mobile family this programme is meant to attract.
- Commencement is unconfirmed. The Act says the provision takes effect ON NOTICE, and no Order bringing it into force has surfaced. The Minister said in February 2025 that it is operational, but cited no SI or gazette date.
- The language requirement is Setswana or a tribal language. English does not satisfy section 13(1)(e). That is a hard obstacle for most anglophone applicants.
- Roughly 11 years of residence is required. That is longer than most alternatives in the region, and far longer than the marketing implies.