Beninese nationality law (original) (raw)

Beninese nationality law is regulated by the Constitution of Benin, as amended; the Beninese (formerly Dahomean) Nationality Code, and its revisions; the Family Code; and various international agreements to which the country is a signatory. These laws determine who is, or is eligible to be, a national of Benin. 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. Beninese nationality is typically obtained under the principle of jus sanguinis, i.e. by birth in Benin or abroad to parents with Beninese 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 peri