Nationality not Naturalization - The Rights of Lebanese Women to Full Citizenship and to Confer their Nationality to their Children Section III Secondary or derived nationality Secondary or derived citizenship is the nationality that an individual acquires after birth, such as through marriage, naturalization, and statelessness. identify a specific period to process citizenship requests by General Security.27 Lebanese woman married to a foreign man First: Acquisition of Lebanese citizenship by marriage Lebanese man married to a foreign woman Article 5 of Law No. 15 of 1925 stipulates that a foreign woman married to a Lebanese man shall, upon her request, become Lebanese one year from the date on which the marriage was registered at the Civil Status Office. The foreign woman meant by this Article is a non-Lebanese woman, who may have foreign nationality, citizenship under study (Qaid ad-Dars) or unidentified nationality.23 One of the rulings issued by the Lebanese Court of Cassation states that “it is sufficient for a woman married to a Lebanese to be a foreigner — whether her nationality is known or is still under study (Qaid ad-Dars) — so that she may be entitled to claim benefits from the provisions of Article 5 of Decision 15, without having to establish her original nationality, which is still under study”.24 If a divorce takes place between a Lebanese and a foreign wife who acquired Lebanese citizenship by virtue of marriage, the wife retains her foreign nationality in addition to her Lebanese nationality.25 It should be noted that previously, a foreign woman acquired Lebanese nationality upon her marriage to a Lebanese man and enjoyed this right even before her marriage was registered. This continued until the passage of Law 11 January 1960, which stated: “The foreign woman married to a Lebanese shall, upon her request, become Lebanese one year after the date of registering her marriage.” Here, the law does not require the husband’s consent to the request because he might be deceased, insane, kidnapped or imprisoned... especially since the word “woman” is mentioned in the law and is more comprehensive and carries meanings and marital statuses that are broader than the word “wife,” which denotes the marriage’s continuity. The word “woman” has more than one meaning, namely: wife, widow, divorced, and who is in a state of desertion.26 Notably, the provisions of Article 5 mentioned above are currently violated, as the Directorate of Personal Status and General Security stipulates that three years must pass from the marriage of a foreign woman to a Lebanese to obtain Lebanese citizenship, in addition to her bearing a child or two from him. If one of the spouses is barren, the applicant must attach medical documents confirming the inability to procreate or a statement from a physician confirming that a forced abortion has taken place for health reasons. In other cases, legal proceedings may also be constricted for certain nationalities, and the decision to grant citizenship is delayed indefinitely. This is due to a legal loophole, namely, the failure to Article 4 of Law No. 15 of 1925 stipulates that: 1. The spouse (woman) of a foreigner, who has become a Lebanese citizen, as well as the children of full age of such a foreigner, may, if they so request, obtain Lebanese nationality, without satisfying conditions for residency, whether by virtue of the regulation giving this nationality to the husband, the father or the mother or through another special regulation. 2. Likewise, the minor children of a father who has acquired Lebanese nationality, or a mother who has acquired the said nationality and who remained alive after the death of the father, shall become Lebanese unless they reject this nationality within the year after reaching the age of majority. Three issues must be highlighted. First point: If a woman recovers her Lebanese nationality that she has lost due to marriage, upon her request, after the dissolution of her marriage due to the death of the husband, will her minor children have the right to acquire Lebanese nationality according to the nationality of their mother? The text of Article 4 of Law No. 15 of 1925 does not distinguish between the status of minors of a naturalized Lebanese mother who remained alive after the death of her foreign husband and that of minors of a Lebanese mother who retained this affiliation, despite her marriage to a foreigner, who later died, and she remained alive and retained her Lebanese nationality. However, there is conflicting jurisprudence and interpretation on this point: The first perspective notes that on the principle of equality and justice, equality between a Lebanese woman and a naturalized woman must be ensured since it is not logical to treat a native Lebanese less equitably than an alien who subsequently acquired Lebanese nationality.28 The second perspective is reflected in some jurisprudence, which considers that it is not permissible to adopt the principle of equality between a mother of Lebanese origin who lost her nationality by marrying a foreigner and subsequently recovered it administratively after the dissolution of her marriage, and a foreign mother who was naturalized since, in the first case, the children do not acquire Lebanese citizenship.29 The term “naturalization” means obtaining Lebanese citizenship and is not intended to recover or retain Lebanese nationality after marriage.30 This approach even considers that the Nationality Law is related to public order and can only be explained narrowly and 9