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 'ON NOTICE'. We could not locate the commencement Order or Statutory Instrument. The Minister publicly stated in February 2025 that the changes are operational but cited no gazette date. Obtain written Ministry confirmation before relying on it.
The 2024 Act is reported everywhere as 'Botswana now allows dual citizenship'. For people born Batswana, that is true. For naturalised citizens — which is what your clients would be — the Act retains a ministerial power to demand renunciation on pain of deprivation, and defines 'dual citizen' as someone who is Botswanan by birth or descent. No agency site flags this.
Qualifying routes
12 months' continuous residence immediately preceding plus 10 years' aggregate in the preceding 12 years — roughly 11 years minimum
5 years' aggregate residence plus a written declaration of intention lodged at least 2.5 years before; language requirement waivable
The facts
- Total landed cost
- Nominal official fees; the cost is roughly 11 years of residence
- Timeline
- 132–180 months — roughly 11 years of residence before application is even possible
- Physical presence
- 12 months' continuous immediately preceding application plus 10 years' aggregate within the preceding 12 years
- Family
- foreign spouse via the 5-year route with a declaration of intention
- Permanent residency
- PR after 5 years' lawful continuous residence plus 'significant contributions to Botswana'
- Citizenship
- This is the citizenship route
- Language test
- sufficient knowledge of Setswana or any language spoken by a tribal community in Botswana — English does NOT qualify; ministerial waiver possible under section 13(2A)
- Dual citizenship
- Not permitted — you would have to renounce
- Requirements
- 12 months' continuous residence immediately preceding application10 years' aggregate 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, 'being a citizen of Botswana by registration or naturalisation, has failed, on being so required by the Minister, to renounce, within a specified time, his or her citizenship of any other country.' 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 resident outside Botswana for 7 continuous years without notice of intent to retain — a trap for exactly the mobile family that would want this.
- Commencement is unconfirmed. The Act says 'ON NOTICE' and we could not locate the Order. 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), which is a hard obstacle for most anglophone applicants.
- Roughly 11 years of residence is required — longer than most alternatives in the region and far longer than the marketing implies.