Gambian nationality law is regulated by the Constitution of The Gambia, as amended; The Gambia Nationality and Citizenship Act, 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 The Gambia. 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. Gambian nationality is typically obtained under the principle of jus sanguinis, born to parents with Gambian 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 period of time through naturalization.
Acquisition of nationality
Nationality can be acquired in The Gambia at birth or later in life through naturalization.
By birth
Those who acquire nationality at birth include:
Children born anywhere who have at least one parent who is a national of Gambian origin.
By naturalization
Naturalization can be granted to persons who have resided in the territory of The Gambia for a sufficient period of time to confirm they understand the customs and traditions of the society. General provisions are that applicants have good character and conduct; are able to economically support themselves and their family; and intend to permanently reside in the territory. Applicants must typically have resided in the country for fifteen years. The law makes no provision for children adopted by Gambians, or children who live in the Gambia, but whose parents are unknown. Renunciation of other nationality is required for applicants to receive Gambian nationality. Besides foreigners meeting the criteria, other persons who may be naturalized include:
The spouse of a Gambian national after seven years of residency; or Minor children can be automatically naturalised when their parent acquires nationality.
Loss of nationality
Gambian nationals can renounce their nationality pending approval by the state. Nationals may be denaturalised in The Gambia for performing acts, like voting, which are afforded to citizens of another country; committing serious crimes; committing crimes against the state or state security; or for fraud, misrepresentation, or concealment in a naturalization petition. Persons who previously had nationality and wish to repatriate if they lost their status because of dual nationality are permitted to naturalise.
Dual nationality
Dual nationality has been allowed in The Gambia since 2001 for Gambians born in The Gambia. Naturalised persons are not allowed to have other nationalities. The president of the country is required to be of Gambian descent.
Commonwealth citizenship
Gambian citizens are also Commonwealth citizens as well.
History
European period (1493–1821)
The papal bull Romanus Pontifex issued by Pope Nicholas V confirmed Portugal's exclusive right to the west coast of Africa, which was reconfirmed in the Inter caetera issued in 1493 by Pope Alexander VI. After the death of King Henry in 1580, Portugal suffered a succession crisis. António, Prior of Crato was one of the claimants to the throne and to raise money to support his claim and pay his debts, he sold the exclusive rights for ten years to trade along the Senegal and Gambia Rivers, to Anthony Dassell, a London merchant operating on the Barbary Coast, and a group of merchants from Barnstaple, Colyton, Exeter and London for £400. Queen Elizabeth of England confirmed by letters patent the grant on 3 May 1588. Even after Philip II claimed the Portuguese throne, António continued to put forth that he owned the banks of the rivers in Senegambia, though the Portuguese settlers in the area strongly opposed the infringement of their trade monopoly. When the agreed-to term expired a decade later, Elizabeth granted a trade monopoly along the Gambia River to Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham and John Stanhope, 1st Baron Stanhope in January 1598, which was granted in 1618, by James I to Robert Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick and a consortium of London merchants. Rich and his partners founded the Company of Adventurers of London and founded Fort James on James Island, the first British settlement in the Gambia. By 1620 British settlements had expanded upriver and inland, to a village named Oranto, which was later known as Tobabkunda, but their venture failed by 1624 and subsequent explorers focused on the areas which would become the Gold Coast.
In 1621, the Dutch acquired Gorée island to establish a base in Senegambia for the Dutch East India Company. In 1631, Charles I extended the commercial charter to another British trading and colonizing conglomerate, and his successor Charles II of England granted another in 1651. Two expeditions were sent and a British trading post was founded at in 1652. Also in 1651, Jacob Kettler, Duke of Courland, in present-day Latvia, purchased James Island (known then as St. Andrew's Island) and land concessions at Banyon Point (now Half Die), Jufureh, and Kassang Hill (aka Gassan). He established a fort on the island and another at Banyon Point, sending colonists and missionaries to found permanent settlements. During the Polish-Swedish War, Kettler was imprisoned in Sweden in 1658, and in 1659 the Dutch agreed to take over Kettler's properties in The Gambia and in Tobago until he was released. In 1660, a French privateer captured the fort and plundered the island. The Dutch recaptured it, but then retreated to their stronghold at Gorée. The following year, British explorers retook the fort, and reinstated the name Fort James.
By 1662, the Dutch had taken the original Portuguese settlements in Africa and the Americas and conflict escalated into war between Britain and the Netherlands. Reinforcements were sent to Fort James and the British were able to take all of the Dutch forts in the region except the ones at Axim and Elmina. At the conclusion of the war in 1667, under terms of the Treaty of Breda, each side primarily retained what was in their possession and the British agreed to accept the Dutch principle of free trade. Conflict with the French followed with both sides capturing possessions of the other and then recapturing their former possessions. By 1749, the British had nine settlements in The Gambia. Between 1660 and 1752, the Royal Adventurers of England Trading to Africa, which became the Royal African Company in 1672, maintained the presence at Fort James. Then from 1750 to 1821, the Company of Merchants Trading to Africa based from the island. The British territories in the Gambia were acquired and lost multiple times to the French over the next one hundred years, though per the 1783 Treaty of Versailles British ownership was confirmed. In 1816, British Army captain, Alexander Grant negotiated a land cession from the Kombo chieftain on Banjul Island. He established the British town of Bathurst on St. Mary's Island and constructed barracks, government buildings, and harbor facilities.
British period (1821–1965)
In 1821, the British government took over the administration of the Gambia from the Company of Merchants. The new Crown Colony was administered from Bathurst until 1829, when Gambian administration was placed within the Colony of Sierra Leone. Between 1843 and 1866 the Gambia was a separate colony and then rejoined with Sierra Leone until 1888. In 1888, the Gambia again became a separate colony. Between 1890 and 1901 the administrator negotiated with local chieftainships for the cession of additional territory along the Gambia River. In 1902, Bathurst and Kombo St. Mary were established as the Gambia Colony and the other territories formed the Gambia Protectorate. Both were administered by the Governor of the Gambia Colony and Protectorate. In Britain, allegiance, in which subjects pledged to support a monarch, was the precursor to the modern concept of nationality. The crown recognised from 1350 that all persons born within the territories of the British Empire were subjects. Those born outside the realm — except children of those serving in an official post abroad, children of the monarch, and children born on a British sailing vessel — were considered by common law to be foreigners. Marriage did not affect the status of a subject of the realm. Nationality laws passed by the British Parliament were extended only to the Kingdom of Great Britain, and later the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. When British protectorates were established in 1815, there was little difference between the rights of British subjects and protected persons.
Persons in the Gambia Colony and British-born subjects living in the Gambia Protectorate (1914–1965)
In 1911, at the Imperial Conference a decision was made to draft a common nationality code for use across the empire. The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914 allowed local jurisdictions in the self-governing Dominions to continue regulating nationality in their territories, but also established an imperial nationality scheme throughout the realm. The uniform law, which went into effect on 1 January 1915, required a married woman to derive her nationality from her spouse, meaning if he was British, she was also, and if he was foreign, so was she. It stipulated that upon loss of nationality of a husband, a wife could declare that she wished to remain British and provided that if a marriage had terminated, through death or divorce, a British-born national who had lost her status through marriage could reacquire British nationality through naturalisation without meeting a residency requirement. The statute reiterated common law provisions for natural-born persons born within the realm on or after the effective date. By using the word person, the statute nullified legitimacy requirements for jus soli nationals. For those born abroad on or after the effective date, legitimacy was still required, and could only be derived by a child from a British father (one generation), who was natural-born or naturalised. Naturalisations required five years residence or service to the crown.
Amendments to the British Nationality Act were enacted in 1918, 1922, 1933 and 1943 changing derivative nationality by descent and modifying slightly provisions for women to lose their nationality upon marriage. Because of a rise in statelessness, a woman who did not automatically acquire her husband's nationality upon marriage or upon his naturalisation in another country, did not lose their British status after 1933. The 1943 revision allowed a child born abroad at any time to be a British national by descent if the Secretary of State agreed to register the birth. Under the terms of the British Nationality Act 1948 British nationals in The Gambia Colony were reclassified at that time as "Citizens of the UK and Colonies" (CUKC). The basic British nationality scheme did not change overmuch, and typically those who were previously defined as British remained the same. Changes included that wives and children no longer automatically acquired the status of the husband or father, children who acquired nationality by descent no longer were required to make a retention declaration, and registrations for children born abroad were extended.
Indigenous persons (British Protected Persons) in the Gambia Protectorate (1914–1965)