Report on Citizenship Law: Ethiopia - An infant who is found abandoned in Ethiopia shall, unless proved to have a foreign nationality, be deemed to have been born to an Ethiopian parent and shall acquire Ethiopian nationality. The proclamation thus affirms the previous rule that the law of blood (jus-sanguinis) is the dominant way of acquiring Ethiopian citizenship. No general rights to acquire citizenship through birth in the territory (ius soli) are applicable in the case of Ethiopia. However, protection against statelessness is provided for foundlings for the first time. Adoption Unlike the 1930 nationality law, the 2003 proclamation provides for the possibility of citizenship acquisition through adoption. The proclamation provides that “any child adopted by an Ethiopian national may acquire Ethiopian nationality by law” ( article 7). For this to take place the following clear guidelines are provided. • The adopted child shall not have attained the age of majority. • The child must live in Ethiopia together with his/her adopting parents. • If one of the adopting parents is a foreigner, the foreigner parent shall express his consent in written form. If the child has a previous nationality this must be revoked. Marriage The acquisition of citizenship through marriage is practised in line with Article 6 of the nationality proclamation, which states “a foreign national who is married to an Ethiopian national may acquire Ethiopian nationality by law….” The procedure to do so requires the following cumulative conditions to be fulfilled: The marriage needs to be conducted in accordance with Ethiopian law or the law of any other country. • There must be a total lapse of two years since the conclusion of the marriage. • People must live in Ethiopia for a total of two years preceding the submission of the application. • People must also fulfil the conditions stated in Article 5, sub articles 1, 7 and 8 of the proclamation on naturalisation requirements. Even if the concluded marriage is dissolved by divorce or death, the acquired nationality shall remain intact in law, yet the person is free to change. Naturalisation The specific legal term for a foreigner becoming a citizen of another country is naturalisation. Unlike citizenship through birth, naturalisation has numerous criteria such as social, economic, language, political and legal requirements which foreign nationals needs to fulfil. In the FDRE nationality law, “any foreigner may acquire Ethiopian nationality by law in accordance with the provisions of article 5-12 of this proclamation.” RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/9 - © 2020 Author(s) 15