Gabonese nationality law (original) (raw)

Gabonese nationality law is regulated by the Constitution of Gabon, as amended; the Gabonese Nationality Code, 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 national of Gabon. 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. Gabonese nationality is typically obtained under the principle of jus soli, i.e. by birth in Gabon, or of jus sanguinis, born to parents with Gabon