New Cape Verdean citizenship law comes into force today

A new law on Cape Verdean citizenship came into force this Wednesday, extending the scope of this privilege to children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Cape Verdeans born abroad.

In a white paper to be settled in 90 days, the Cape Verdean government says the law expands the scope of citizenship of origin, embodying the idea of ​​a global nation of Cape Verde and allowing citizenship of origin to be granted. Cape Verdean children – Foreign-born Verdeans holding a Cape Verdean civil registration, either by registration or by transcription, but with waiver of declaration.

The new law also allows the scope of citizenship of origin to be extended to children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren or great-grandchildren of native Cape Verdeans born abroad, but in this case, by means of a declaration and clarifies some legal provisions: namely, the replacement of the requirement of habitual residence with legal residence for persons born in Cape Verde, children of foreigners.

In addition, he stated that this law allows for the introduction for the purposes of acquiring Cape Verdean citizenship of a minimum period of five years for the duration of the marriage, and also expands the same possibility for foreigners living in de facto union with a Cape Verdean citizen.

For the purposes of acquiring citizenship by naturalization, it requires that the requirement of ordinary residence for at least five years must also be legal, in order to prevent the length of stay in Cape Verde in an illegal or irregular situation from being considered a valid period for that purpose, except provided for by this law.

According to the decree, the law allows for the introduction of a new form of acquisition of citizenship for appropriate reasons, with the aim of distinguishing foreign citizens who have distinguished themselves through the practice of appropriate actions in favor of Cape Verde, and to maintain a bond of attachment to the country.

“Introduce new grounds for loss of nationality, allow incapacitated persons who have lost Cape Verdean citizenship as a result of a declaration made during their incapacity to be able to reacquire it at any time after the incapacity ceases,” he adds.

The law was unanimously approved on July 13 in Parliament by all 64 deputies present during the final global vote, 36 from the Movement for Democracy (MpD, in power), 24 from the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV). (opposition) and four from the Independent Democratic Union of Cape Verdeana (UCID, opposition).

A day after the Cape Verdean citizenship law was approved, Cape Verdean Justice Minister Joana Rosa predicted an “avalanche of requests”.

“Indeed, we need approval in order for it to come into force, but reaching a consensus at the parliamentary level was an achievement, as you know, it is not easy, from the point of view of two-thirds, to build a consensus at the parliamentary level,” the minister said at the time.

In September last year, a Guinean-Bissauan father protested against granting citizenship and residence to his daughter, who was born and raised in Cape Verde, so that she could continue her studies in Portugal.

Then the Minister of Justice recalled that the decision was made on the basis of the legal framework existing in the country, which still does not guarantee the assignment of citizenship of Cape Verde “automatically” to persons born in the country and children of foreigners.