Zimbabwean nationality law is regulated by the Constitution of Zimbabwe, as amended; the Citizenship of Zimbabwe Act, 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 Zimbabwean national.
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. Commonwealth countries often use the terms nationality and citizenship as synonyms, despite their legal distinction and the fact that they are regulated by different governmental administrative bodies.
Zimbabwean nationality is typically obtained under the principal of jus sanguinis, i.e. by birth to parents with Zimbabwean 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 registration, a process known elsewhere as naturalisation.
Acquiring Zimbabwean nationality Nationality can be obtained in Zimbabwe at birth or later in life through registration.
By birth Typically, in Zimbabwe, provisions to acquire nationality through jus soli, i.e. by birth in the territory, are only relevant for foundlings and for the stipulations regarding dual nationality. Those who are eligible for nationality by birth include:
Persons born in the country who have at least one parent or grandparent who was a Zimbabwean national by birth or descent; Persons born abroad who have at least one parent or grandparent who was a Zimbabwean national by birth, descent, or registration and whose birth is registered in Zimbabwe; or Foundlings or orphans under the age of fifteen whose parents are unknown.
By registration Registration can be granted to persons who have resided in Zimbabwe for a sufficient period of time to confirm they understand the customs and traditions of the country. General qualifications are that applicants are of majority and legal capacity, have good character, and can verify legal residency of a minimum of ten years. Besides foreigners meeting the criteria, those who can register include:
Adoptees may acquire Zimbabwean nationality by registration, upon completion of the legal adoption process; The spouse of a Zimbabwean national may register as Zimbabwean after a five-year residency; or Minor children may acquire nationality by inclusion on a parent's registration application.
Loss of nationality Zimbabweans are allowed to renounce their nationality, provided that they receive permission from the ministry responsible for nationality provisions. The government may oppose during times of war or if there is a conflict with public policy. Overall, under the constitution, the government cannot deprive anyone of nationality if they would become stateless. Nationals by birth can be deprived of their nationality if it was fraudulently obtained or if, in the case of a foundling, if it is later learned the child had other nationality. Registered persons can be denaturalised for any type of support of an enemy nation with whom Zimbabwe is at war; for committing serious crimes that carry a sentence of one year or more; disloyal acts or crimes against the state or state security; for residing outside of the country for more than five years; or for committing fraud, misrepresentation, or concealment in a naturalisation or registration application. Persons who were Zimbabwean and previously lost their nationality may apply for repatriation, if they lost their nationality because of birth to a Southern Africa Development Community parent who is resident in Zimbabwe, of having dual nationality, or for having been absent from the country for more than five years.
Dual nationality Under the terms of the 2013 Constitution, Zimbabweans by birth are allowed to hold dual nationality, but those who have nationality by descent or registration may be denied the ability to have other nationality.
History Anthropologists have dated remains in the area 100,000 years ago and attributed those inhabitants to be ancestors of Khoekhoe people who reside in the territory today. Waves of Bantu-speakers migrated into the area from 200 BC to 500 AD, pushing the Khoekhoe northward. Many of the Bantu groups were Shona people, who by the tenth century were the most populous group in the area. The Shona developed centralised states which engaged in trade with Arab people from Mozambique. The political center of their state, the Kingdom of Zimbabwe, was founded at Great Zimbabwe in the 11th century. It flourished between 1250 and 1550 before being abandoned. The collapse of the Zimbabwe Kingdom gave rise to the Torwa dynasty of the Kingdom of Butua in the southwestern region of present-day Zimbabwe and about the same time in the north around the Zambezi Valley, the founding the Kingdom of Mutapa. In addition to these centralised kingdoms, the majority of inhabitants of Southern Africa lived in small societies of kinship networks, which included Nguni and Sotho people in the east and Tswana people in the west, while the Shona lived throughout the territory. The Mutapa Kingdom became the dominant political force in the northern part of the territory, developing extensive trade networks with the coastal Muslim peoples. As Portuguese rivals began to replace the Muslim traders, European contact with the Mutapa emerged.
The Portuguese explorer António Fernandes first visited the territory of the Manyika people around 1511 in search of finding the source of gold traded with Sofala. In a 1513 journey, Fernandes traveled throughout the northeastern portion of Zimbabwe encountering the Mutapa Kingdom. The Portuguese established trading posts in the Zimbabwean Highveld, but often were in conflict with both the indigenous people and their Muslim trading rivals. By the seventeenth century, Portuguese attacks on the Mutapa Kingdom had weakened the state, causing some of their tributary states to gain autonomy. The weakened Mutapa state was attacked by the Rozvi Empire in the latter half of the century and forced into vassalage. Simultaneously, the Rozvi drove the Portuguese from the area and gained dominance in the southwestern central plateau. Beginning around the 1820s, the Mfecane brought widespread disruption and conflict, as people migrated into the area from the south. Nguni groups, like the Ndebele people and Gaza people, moved into Shona territory. The Ndebele raided the Manyika people and Mashonaland, eventually establishing the Ndebele Kingdom in Matabeleland, while the Gaza people established themselves on the Sabi River. Though they did not conquer the territory, they destroyed the Rozvi kingdom, and kept the Shona people from reorganising their states.
In 1854, British missionary Robert Moffat was accompanied by the traders Samuel H. Edwards and James Chapman into the area. The following year, Moffat's son-in-law David Livingstone visited and named Victoria Falls. Increased missionary activity led to traders and settlers moving into the region in the 1880s and 1890s. In 1884, British mining magnate Cecil Rhodes convinced Parliament to grant him a charter for the British South Africa Company to develop the region and protect it from expansion of the Portuguese. In 1888, Rhodes secured a mining concession from Lobengula, king of the Ndebele, which was recognized by Britain on 12 September 1890. That year, the company sent agents to occupy Mashonaland and established a headquarters at Fort Salisbury.
British South Africa Company rule (1891–1923) Under the charter, and terms of the Order in Council issued 9 May 1891, Britain acquired extraterritorial jurisdiction over British subjects, in the territories operated by the British South Africa Company. From their headquarters, the Company expanded westward, and took over Matabeleland after defeating the Ndebele there in 1893. In 1895, the large territory the company was operating in Southern Africa was named Rhodesia with the dividing line between Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia being the Zambezi River. By 1896, the subjects of the declining Ndebele Kingdom revolted and were joined by the Shona people residing in the northeastern and central regions of Southern Rhodesia. The Company suppressed the uprisings in 1897 and made reforms to their administration of the area. In 1923, the British South Africa Company relinquished responsibility for Southern Rhodesia to Britain.
In Britain, allegiance, in which subjects pledged to support a monarch, was the precursor to the modern concept of nationality. The crown recognized from 1350 that all persons born within the territories of the British Empire were subjects. Those born outside the realm — except children of those serving in an official post abroad, children of the monarch, and children born on a British ship — were considered by common law to be foreigners. Marriage did not affect the status of a subject of the realm, but under common law, single women, including divorcées, were not allowed to be parents thus their children could not derive nationality maternally and were stateless unless legitimated by their father. British Nationality Acts did not extend beyond the bounds of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, meaning that under Britain's rules of conquest, laws in place at the time of acquisition remained in place until changed. Other than common law, there was no standard statutory law which applied for subjects throughout the realm, meaning different jurisdictions created their own legislation for local conditions, which often conflicted with the laws in other jurisdictions in the empire. Thus, a person who was naturalised in Canada, for example, would be considered a foreigner, rather than a British national, in Australia or South Africa. When British protectorates were established in 1815, there was little difference between the rights of British subjects and protected persons.
In 1911, at the Imperial Conference a decision was made to draft a common nationality code for use across the empire. The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914 allowed local jurisdictions in the British self-governing territories to continue regulating nationality in their jurisdictions, but also established an imperial nationality scheme for use throughout the realm. Under its terms, common law provisions were reiterated for natural-born persons born within the realm on or after the effective date. By using the word person, the statute nullified legitimacy requirements for jus soli nationals, meaning an illegitimate child could derive nationality from its mother. For those born abroad on or after the effective date, legitimacy was still required, and nationality could only be derived by a child from a British father (one generation), who was natural-born or naturalised. It also provided that a married woman derived her nationality from her spouse, meaning if he was British, she was also, and if he was foreign, so was she. It stipulated that upon loss of nationality of a husband, a wife could declare that she wished to remain British. It allowed that if a marriage had terminated, through death or divorce, a British-born national who had lost her status through marriage could reacquire British nationality through naturalisation without meeting a residency requirement. The statute specified that a five-year residency or service to the crown was required for naturalisation.
British crown colony (1923–1949)