The Council of Ministers gathered this day has ruled out “immediate acquisition of Ivorian nationality by foreign spouses”.

The draft bill amends Law No. 61-415 of December 14, 1961, known as the Nationality Code, as amended by Laws No. 72-852 of December 21, 1972, No. 2004-662 of December 17, 2004, Decisions No. 2005-03/PR of July 15, 2005, No. 2005-009/PR of August 29, 2005, and Law No. 2013-654 of December 13, 2013.

This draft bill aims to prevent fraud regarding Ivorian nationality, particularly by addressing sham marriages contracted to bypass the regular naturalization procedure. Thus, this bill prevents the immediate acquisition of Ivorian nationality by the foreign spouse following the administrative procedure of marriage with the other Ivorian spouse.

It conditions the acquisition of nationality on a declaration by the foreign spouse made before the Minister of Justice, after a probationary period of five (5) years from the date of marriage, to assess the stability of the union and the applicant’s interest in Ivorian nationality. Moreover, nationality is only acquired on the date of acceptance of the declaration of acquisition of Ivorian nationality by the competent authority.”