What you Did Not Know About Uganda’s Dual Citizenship Policy

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The Uganda Citizenship and Immigration Control (Amendment) Act No. 53, 2009, provides an opportunity for former Ugandan citizens who have naturalized in another country, to re-acquire Ugandan citizenship. The Act also allows foreign nationals who wish to retain their citizenship in a foreign country, the option to acquire Ugandan citizenship.
Ugandans who wish to re-acquire their Ugandan citizenship must adhere to the following:

• A person who was a citizen of Uganda by birth and who on acquiring the citizenship of another country renounced his or her Ugandan citizenship, may apply to the board in the prescribed manner to re-acquire his or her former Ugandan citizenship.
• The Immigration Board may allow a former Ugandan citizen to re-acquire his or her Ugandan citizenship if it is satisfied that the grounds for the loss of his or her Ugandan citizenship are of no adverse effect to the public order and security of Uganda.
• A person who re-acquires Ugandan citizenship under this section shall be required to take the oath of allegiance

The flipside to acquiring dual citizenship is that you will not permitted under by the law to hold any of the following Offices of State in Uganda:

• President.
• Vice President.
• Prime Minister.
• Cabinet Minister and other Ministers.
• The Inspector General and the Deputy Inspector General of Government.
• Technical Head of the Armed Forces.
• Technical Heads of Branches of the Armed Forces.
• Commanding Officers of Armed Forces Units of at least battalion strength.
• Officers responsible for heading departments responsible for records personnel and logistics in all branches of the Armed Forces.
• Inspector General of Police and Deputy Inspector General of Police.
• Heads and Deputy Heads of National Security and Intelligence Organisations, (ESO), ISO and CMI).
• Member of the National Citizenship and Immigration Board.

Non-Ugandans who wish to acquire Ugandan citizenship while retaining the citizenship of another country must adhere to the following eligibility guidelines:

• satisfy the Immigration Board that the laws of his or her country of origin permit him or her to hold dual citizenship;
• not be the subject of a deportation order from Uganda territory or any other country;
• not be under a sentence of death or imprisonment exceeding nine months imposed by a competent court, without the option of a fine;
• satisfy the Immigration Board that he or she has been resident in Uganda for not less than 10 years;
• satisfy the Immigration Board that he or she has adequate knowledge of any prescribed vernacular language in Uganda or of English or Swahili;
• satisfy the board that he or she has not been in Uganda as a refugee or as a diplomat;
• he or she possesses rare skills and capacity for technology transfer;
• be willing to take the oath of allegiance;
• be a person of sound mind.

Pursuant to the Uganda Act, general conditions for dual citizenship require that applicants prove the following:

• he or she is not engaged in espionage against Uganda;
• he or she has not served in the voluntary service of the armed forces or security forces of a country hostile to or at war with Uganda;
• he or she has not attempted to acquire Ugandan citizenship by fraud, deceit or bribery or by intentional or otherwise deliberate false statements in an application for citizenship;
• he or she does not have a criminal record;
• the laws of his or her country of origin permit dual citizenship;
• he or she is, at the time of application, of or above eighteen years of age;
• he or she is of sound mind;
• he or she does not hold more than one citizenship;
• he or she is not discharged, bankrupt, or insolvent

Applications for dual citizenship could be canceled if applicant misrepresents their background, education, training or experience and/or any other matter required in the application.
Source — Uganda Immigration Relocation Services.