Citizenship

The Constitution of Kenya 2010 which was promulgated on the 27th August, 2010 gives prominence to the Sovereignty of the people (chapter 1), the Republic and the Territory of Kenya (Chapter 2) and issues of Citizenship (Chapter 3). The Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act, 2011 which implements Chapter 3 of the Constitution commenced on 30th August 2011, which effectively repealed the Kenya Citizenship Act Cap. 170, the Immigration Act Cap. 172 and the Aliens Restriction Act, Cap. 173, Laws of Kenya.

Legal Mandate

Citizenship section derives its mandate from the following legal instruments: –

  • The Constitution of Kenya 2010
  • The Kenya Citizenship and Immigration act 2011
  • The Kenya citizens and Foreign nationals Management Service act 2011
  • The Kenya Citizenship and immigration Regulations,2012 and
  • Government Circulars
Who can become a citizen

Kenya Citizenship is conferred by the constitution and is acquired by:

  • Birth
  • Registration Citizenship by Presumption for Foundlings.
  • Citizenship by birth: Sec 6 of the Kenya citizenship and immigration act and Article 14 of the Constitution of Kenya as read together with clause 30 of the Sixth Schedule of the 2010 Constitution. States Kenyan by birth as follows:-
    A person is a citizen by birth if on the day of the person`s birth, whether or not the person is born in Kenya, either the mother or father of the person is or was at the date of his or her birth; one of the parents is or was a citizen of Kenya.
Citizenship by registration;

There are two categories of Citizenship by registration; –

  • Those who are entitled e.g. Regaining, Citizenship by marriage, Child of a Kenyan citizen by registration, and Child adopted by a Kenyan citizen.
  • Those who are eligible e.g. Widows/Widowers, Lawful Resident, Stateless Persons, Migrants, Descendants of stateless Persons and Migrants.
  • Citizenship by Presumption for Foundlings.
    Article 14 (4) of the COK and Sec 9 (1) of the KCIA defines Citizenship by presumption as
    A child found in Kenya who is, or appears to be, less than eight years of age, and whose nationality and parents are not known, is presumed to be a Citizen by birth.
Functions of Citizenship Section: -
  1. Processing of Kenya citizenship applications which include lawful residents, spouses of Kenyan citizens, children of registered Kenyans, widows/widowers, migrants, stateless persons and their descendants.
  2. Processing and registering of voluntary renunciation of Kenya Citizenship.
  3. Processing and registering dual citizenship disclosures.
  4. Processing and registering applications to regain Kenya Citizenship and
  5. Issuance and dispatch of citizenship certificates of registration to the applicants.
  6. Interacting and providing information about the clients’ citizenship applications.
  7. Resolving and giving feedback to clients regarding their applications
Miscellaneous Services:-

Duplicate Certificate fee 5,000
Storage Charge for certificates fee 2,000 per Month
not collected within three (3) months of notification

Citizenship Services