UNHCR, APRIL 2023 REFUGEES FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION The Citizenship and Immigration Control Act of 1999 (amended most recently in 2009) establishes the conditions to naturalise, based on 20 years’ residence and fulfilment of other conditions. 314 Article 25 of the Act provides that (with other exclusions) a period of residence as a dependant (ie a child) does not count towards a period of residence for registration or naturalisation. For the child of a refugee, this would mean that an application for naturalisation could only be made at the age of 38.315 Children of registered or naturalised parents do not acquire citizenship through that process; they are also not attributed citizenship at birth even if they are born after a parent has acquired citizenship but must apply for registration or naturalisation in their own right, after a ten- or twenty-year period of residence that only begins to run from the age of 18. This creates significant risks of statelessness. If a parent acquires Ugandan citizenship and permission to retain a previous citizenship, the child would be regarded as having acquired or retained the other citizenship. On the other hand, if the parent renounces or loses the other citizenship, a child born after that renunciation would not acquire either Ugandan or the other citizenship. Registrations and naturalisations in Uganda are determined by the National Citizenship and Immigration Board appointed by the President, at their discretion and in camera, on the basis of files submitted by the Department of Immigration. 316 It costs USh 100,000 (approximately US$ 30) to register as a citizen for a spouse, but US$ 1,000 for registration in other circumstances; except that there is a reduced fee of USh 100,000 for “people who have lived all their lives in Uganda and consider themselves as Ugandans except for the citizenship papers.” No fees are posted on the Immigration Department website for naturalisation.317 Between July 2014 and June 2018, Uganda had registered 1,460 people as citizens, and naturalised 452; in addition, 719 had recovered Ugandan citizenship under the provisions enabling dual citizenship. 318 The Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control (DCIC) has stated to civil society organisations that more than 60 long-term refugees have been granted citizenship. 319 Access to the nationality of South Sudan or DRC South Sudan The Transitional Constitution of South Sudan, adopted in 2011 pending the appointment of a commission to draft a final constitution, did not include transitional provisions on the regulation of nationality on state succession. However, Article 45 echoed the wording of the 2005 constitution of Sudan that “Every person born to a South Sudanese mother or father shall have an inalienable right to enjoy South Sudanese citizenship and nationality”, thus providing for a gender-neutral descent-based citizenship regime. It permitted dual nationality whether for an existing national acquiring another nationality or for a foreigner acquiring South Sudanese nationality. Article 8 of the South Sudanese Nationality Act, adopted in June 2011 just before the secession of South Sudan, provides for very broad attribution of South Sudanese nationality, stating that “An individual will be considered a South Sudanese national if such person meets any of the following requirements: (a) Any 314 Uganda Citizenship and Immigration Control Act 1999, amended 2 009, Sections 16 and 25. 315 The same article also excludes a period of residence under a “convention travel document” (ie a travel document issued under the 1951 Refugee Convention), which would appear to exclude a person granted refugee status in another country who then travels to and resides in Uganda. 316 Uganda Constitution 1995, Article 16. 317 Fees for Services Offered by the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control Effective 1st July 2015, available at website of Directorate of Immigration Control, Uganda: http://www.immigration.go.ug/about/fees-servicesoffered-directorate-citizenship-and-immigration-control-effective-1st-july-2015. 318 See Manby, ‘Citizenship and Statelessness in the East African Community’. 319 Interviews, Kampala, 2021. 79