Senegalese nationality law is regulated by the Constitution of Senegal, as amended; the Nationality Law, 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 Senegal. 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 with the state under international law, whereas citizenship is the domestic relationship of an individual within the nation. Senegalese nationality is typically obtained under the principal of jus sanguinis, i.e. by birth in Senegal or abroad to parents with Senegalese nationality. It can be granted, through naturalization, 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.
Acquisition of nationality Nationality can be acquired in Senegal at birth or later in life through naturalization.
By birth Those who acquire nationality at birth include:
Children born in Senegal to at least one parent also born in Senegal; Children born anywhere to at least one parent who is a Senegalese national; 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 Senegal and are integrated into the society. General provisions are that applicants have good character and conduct; are in good mental and physical health; can be economically self-sufficient; and have no criminal record which resulted in prison sentence. Applicants must typically have resided in the country for ten years. Besides foreigners meeting the criteria, other persons who may be naturalized include:
Children legally adopted by a Senegalese parent, at the time of completion of a legal adoption automatically derive Senegalese nationality; Minor children are automatically naturalized when their parent acquires nationality; Persons who have habitually resided in Senegal and both behaved as if they were a national and have been accepted as a national by society may acquire nationality via a tribunal; The legal spouse of a Senegalese national after five years of marriage; or Persons who have worked in government administration or performed important or exceptional service to the nation may naturalize after a five-year residency period.
Loss of nationality Senegalese nationals can renounce their nationality pending approval by the state. Senegalese of origin may not lose their nationality. Naturalized persons may be denaturalized in Senegal for disloyalty to the state; committing crimes against the state or state security; or for ordinary serious crimes. Though the law also specifies that persons can lose their nationality for obtaining another nationality, the provision requires government approval, which in practice has been allowed by the Senegalese Ministry of Justice. There are no provisions in the nationality law for persons who previously had nationality to repatriate.
Dual nationality Since 2013, Senegal has allowed nationals to hold dual nationality, unless the other country prohibits multiple nationalities.
History Human presence in the Senegambia began over 10,000 years ago and included the ancestors of the Fulani, Jola, Serer, Tukulor, and Wolof peoples. The first centralized state in the region, the Takrur Kingdom, emerged in the fourth century. The kingdom stretched across the Senegal River valley from the Ferlo Desert to the Sahara and was involved with the Zenaga Berbers in the trans-Saharan trade. In the eighth century, the Berbers brought Islam to the region, and by the eleventh century, it had become the state religion of Takrur. In the thirteenth century, Takrur was conquered by the Mali Empire and the Kingdom of Jolof arose in the northwestern savanna area of what is now Senegal. Jolof expanded in the fourteenth century making vassal states of the Kingdoms of Saloum and Sine. These states were governed by regional traditional rulers who were paid taxes by their subject, and in turn who paid tribute to the Empire or Kingdom, in exchange for protection from outside attack of their traditional lands and trade routes.
African empires and outsider contact (1364–1659) In 1364, Jehan li Roanois (alternately called Jean de Rouen), a French merchant and explorer from Normandy, landed on the Liberian Coast and traveled down to the Gold Coast. The following year, French explorers returned and established a chain of trading stations as far south as the Senegal River. These were abandoned between 1410 and 1413 because of situations in France, including the 14th century plague and Hundred Years' War. From 1444, Prince Henry the Navigator sent out expeditions from Portugal to determine whether trade in the region could be established. Voyages were led by Diogo Afonso, Antão Gonçalves, , and Nuno Tristão, among others. Later that year, Dinis Dias, inspired by these earlier voyages, sighted the Senegal River and encountered the Jolof Empire before continuing south to Cape Verde and the Ilha da Palma, now known as Gorée. Establishing commerce with Serer and Wolof leaders, the Portuguese traded guns, horses and metal for slaves, making the Senegambia the center focus of its Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
The rapid expansion of the slave trade fractured the African societies in the Senegambia. The (also called Gajaaga or Gadjaga) became the dominant kingdom of the upper Senegal River valley. By the mid-sixteenth century, the Jolof Empire dissolved when its member states began fighting for independence. Break-out states included the Imamate of Futa Toro in the middle Senegal valley; the Niana and Wuli Kingdoms on the northern banks of the Gambia River; and the Wolof and Serer states of Baol, Kajor, Salum, Sine and Waalo, along the coastline. Weak kingdoms could not protect their subjects from raiders or traders, giving rise to internal factionalism and conflict. European rivals also had frequent conflicts because of the competition for trade. During the period, it was typical for governments to grant chartered trading companies governmental authority and trading monopolies to establish a claim to territory. For example, the British formed the Royal African Company in 1625, the Dutch West India Company began operating in Africa the same year, and the French established the in 1626. The Dutch drove the Portuguese from West Africa after capturing Fort Elmina in 1637, followed by their forts at Axim, Luanda, Benguela, São Tomé, and Annobon. As the Portuguese dominance declined, British, Danish, French, and Swedish traders also moved in to the region, but mainly operated in the coastal regions. In 1638, the French established a trading station on Bocos Island (Île de Bocos) at the mouth of the Senegal River to trade with the indigenous people on the coast. They moved this commercial enterprise in 1659 to Ndar Island and established the post of Saint-Louis.
French period (1659–1960) From Saint-Louis, the French began to expand south. In 1677, they captured four Dutch trading forts, including Gorée, Joal, Portudal and Rufisque, on the Senegalese coast. The seizures were led by Jean du Casse, who was hired by the Company of Senegal to expel rival traders and safeguard French holdings. In 1678, he seized the Dutch post at Arguin and the following year launched raids against the Wolof, Bawol and Sine rulers, to force them to sign treaties of protection and grant exclusive trade rights in their territories. These treaties, became the basis for Frances claims of the right of occupation in the Senegambia. In 1697, , an official of the Royal Senegal Company explored widely in the area and consolidated French power in Senegal. Dakar was established as a trading post in 1750. During the eighteenth century, the British captured all of the French trading posts in the area, but returned Goreé under the terms of the 1763 Treaty of Paris which ended the Seven Years' War and the remainder of France's former Senegalese settlements in 1817 at the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
The Ancien Régime of France developed a system of feudal allegiance in which subjects were bound together by a scheme of protection and service tied to land ownership. Possession of land was typically tied to military and court service and omitted women because they could not perform those obligations. Thus, French nationality also derived from place of birth in French territory, until the nineteenth century, but under feudal law married women were subjugated to the authority of their husbands under coverture. Though attempts were made to codify the common law of the colonies in 1716, 1738, 1758, and between 1761 and 1768, none were successful. Having separate codes for the colonies and metropole was a characteristic of the empire and created little unity and standardization in French law. Thus, the French Constitution of 1791, which gave legitimacy to the French Revolution and human rights protections by incorporating the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, did not include any of the colonies or possessions of France in Africa, Asia, or the Americas. During the Revolution, male citizens in Saint-Louis sent a list of grievances to the Estates General demanding that the privileged position of persons born in France over those born in the colony end and the abolition of the Company of Senegal's trade monopoly to allow free trade. As a result, upon France taking definitive control of its colonies in 1817, the Four Communes of Senegal, were granted equal status with French nationals from the metropole, meaning that they had full rights of citizenship as well as French nationality. Classified as originaires, inhabitants of Dakar, Gorée, Rufisque, and Saint-Louis, were distinguished as different from Africans of the interior because of their level of assemilation to French culture.
The abolition of slavery in 1794 granted French nationality to all men in the French colonies, but the reestablishment of slavery in 1802, made the status of colonial subjects confusing. The 1802 coup d'état of Napoleon Bonaparte rolled back gains made during the French Revolutionary period, re-establishing the law and customs in effect before the Revolution of 1789. In 1805, the Napoleonic Code, the French Civil Code, was implemented in France, the French Antilles, and French Guiana. The provisions contained in it applied only to the white French residing in the colonies. Under the Civil Code, women were legally incapacitated and paternal authority was established over children. Upon marriage, a woman automatically acquired the same nationality as her spouse. Illegitimate children were barred from inheritance and nationality could only be transmitted through a father. Between 1805 and 1846, liberated slaves, those found on illegal slaving vessels, had a special status in the French colonies and were assigned to public works projects. Between 1831 and 1846, when the liberated slaves were freed, they worked as apprentices. In 1848 slavery was abolished for the second time. Freedom disrupted the social order, as it established patrilineal affiliations for family members. In 1840, the Civil Code was extended to the Communes of Senegal, though it was strongly resisted by the originaires. Simultaneously with the abolition of slavery, the Civil Code was extended to all of the inhabitants in the colonies of France.