Come Home to Zimbabwe

Current Immigration Regulations in Zimbabwe for Permanent Residents, Returning Residents and Non-Citizens. Follow this link to download the file (PDF – 212k).

We have gathered the most current information we can find on Citizenship and Immigration regulations, for our members and visitors to check.

From Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
November 28, 2002

We welcome, with great relief, General Notice 584 of 2002, as gazetted by the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs on 22 November 2002. This seeks to clarify and declare the law relating to renunciation and proof of foreign citizenship and has directed the Registrar General (R-G) and his officials to apply the law as set out in the Notice. The following now applies:

1. A citizen of Zimbabwe by birth may not be deprived of or denied his citizenship unless he is or has become a citizen of a foreign country.
2. A Zimbabwean citizen actually holding a foreign citizenship will have lost his Zimbabwean citizenship if he did not renounce his foreign citizenship with both the foreign authorities and at the R-G’s office before 6 January 2002. (We maintain that the deadline remains in dispute until the Supreme Court rules on the appeal of Justice Adam’s judgment in Tsvangirai –v- Registrar General & Ors HH 29-02)
3. A Zimbabwean citizen who acquires foreign citizenship by marriage, or by some other voluntary act, will lose his Zimbabwean citizenship if he does not renounce foreign citizenship within one year of acquiring such foreign citizenship.
4. A minor Zimbabwean citizen who is also a citizen of a foreign country will lose his Zimbabwean citizenship if he does not renounce foreign citizenship within one year of attaining the age of majority (18 years).
5. A foreign citizen who acquires Zimbabwean citizenship by registration shall lose his Zimbabwean citizenship if he does not renounce the foreign citizenship within 6 (six) months of obtaining local citizenship.

The Notice continues to say that:

1. Renunciation requirements only apply to a Zimbabwean citizen who is actually and presently a citizen of a foreign country, whether such citizenship was acquired by birth, descent, registration and naturalisation, in terms of the laws of the foreign country.
2. Renunciation requirements DO NOT apply to a person who merely has a claim or entitlement to foreign nationality/a potential right to acquire a foreign citizenship, whether by official discretion or as a legal right. This will encompass individuals who cannot become foreign citizens until such time as they actively apply for, and are granted, foreign citizenship.
3. A Zimbabwean citizen does not have to produce written proof or confirmation that he is not a citizen of a foreign country in order to establish his Zimbabwean citizenship status.
4. If the R-G refutes an individual’s Zimbabwean citizenship, he or his officials must produce documentary proof in the form of a foreign passport or certificate, the written law of the country, records in the possession of the R-G or results of investigations conducted into the individual’s citizenship status.

We are disappointed to note that Cabinet and the Ministry of Justice were compelled to legislate this interpretation of the law and to require the R-G’s office to comply accordingly. Countless cases were instituted and argued in the High Courts of Harare and Bulawayo where the R-G had refused to comply with the law and many different Judges had, in fact, interpreted the legislation in exactly the same manner. Nevertheless, the R-G’s office found it necessary to continue with its misinterpretation, to the detriment of the rights of Zimbabwean citizens, unlawfully revoking their Zimbabwean citizenship and refusing to renew their Zimbabwean passports until a “restoration of Zimbabwean citizenship fee” was paid. This is indeed regrettable. It is not the duty of the legislative body of government to interpret the laws of Zimbabwe. This function is accorded to the Judiciary, and should be duly adhered to in order to maintain the separation of powers necessary in a democratic society.

Individuals who believe that they have been unlawfully denied their right to renewal of a Zimbabwean passport, and those who were forced to pay the restoration fee due to misinterpretation of the above laws are urged to attend at the office of the Registrar General to insist upon their right to a renewal of their Zimbabwean passport, and/or to request a refund of the restoration fee paid, upon production of proof of such payment. In the event that the R-G or his officers refuse to comply, item (d) above should be brought to their attention and the necessary documentary evidence should be requested.

If anyone believes they have been improperly obstructed, they should send details to ZLHR on email: zlhr@icon.co.zw, or by fax to 251468, or post to PO Box CY 1393 Causeway.

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The Kariba Draft Constitution and Dual Citizenship

Of great interest – to those in the Diaspora in particular – is the question of dual citizenship.  Again, the provisions in the Kariba Draft relating to citizenship are essentially the same as those in the present Constitution.
There is no provision permitting dual citizenship.
As in the present constitution the question of dual citizenship is left to be regulated by the Citizenship Act, which at the moment forbids it.

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We have gathered the most current information we can find on Citizenship and Immigration regulations, for our members and visitors to check.

ZimOnline
June 16, 2005

BULAWAYO – A High Court judge has declared a Bulawayo lawyer born of foreign parents a citizen of Zimbabwe in a landmark ruling certain to come as a relief to thousands of individuals denied citizenship in the last five years because their parents were originally not Zimbabweans.

In a judgment delivered last week, Justice Tedius Karwi ordered Zimbabwe’s Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede to recognise the lawyer, Joseph Sibanda as a Zimbabwean citizen with all privileges, duties and obligations attaching such citizenship and to also issue him with a passport. The 43-year old Sibanda was born and bred in Zimbabwe but his parents are originally from Malawi. He appealed to the High Court after Mudede’s office refused to issue him with a passport saying he was Malawian by birth and should first renounce that citizenship before he can qualify for Zimbabwean citizenship and passport.

Zimbabwe’s Citizenship Act bars dual citizenship and requires foreigners wishing to become citizens of the country to first renounce their foreign citizenship in accordance with the law of the foreign country. The controversial law also disqualifies from being Zimbabwean citizens millions of people who migrated from Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique to settle in Zimbabwe many generations ago mostly as farm labourers. Even their children born and bred in Zimbabwe are also disqualified from automatic citizenship unless they renounce their indirect citizenship of other countries through their parents.

In his ruling, Karwi said that Sibanda, who held a Zimbabwean passport before, was “a Zimbabwean citizen with all privileges, duties and obligations attaching such citizenship.” – ZimOnline

There are an estimated FOUR MILLION Zimbabweans in the diaspora, working in countries all over the world.

Where are you? What work have you been doing? Zimbabwe will WELCOME those who do come home.

Priority will be given to ZIMBABWEANS seeking employment on reconstruction projects and in the private sector. Remember, if no Zimbabweans come back, the jobs will have to go to other expats – so come home as soon as you can.

Your country needs you, your skills and your experience

Massive international aid and re-development finance will be made available for the rebuilding of Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans are very special people, and the world will be amazed at how fast our nation will RISE from the ASHES to once again become Africa’s most wonderful country.

The first step is to put your hand up and be counted. That way, the planners can plan and the matchmakers can matchmake.

Participate in this Skills Survey – Register your intention to return, and start getting back in contact with your friends, workmates, relatives and potential employers.

Click here to complete the Zimbabwe Skills and Salaries Survey 2009

Your Ideas Please

Why not comment and give us your wish list as a returning citizen or a returning permanent resident?

What do you think would help to make your homecoming smooth and easy? What red tape would you like to see cut?

We promise to forward all good suggestions to the relevant Ministry.

To get the ball rolling, here is one of our suggestions:

Taxation:

The Come Home team’s wish list would start with a ‘Clean Slate’ personal income tax amnesty for returning citizens, particularly for those who may have informally emigrated, or left the country without first regularising their tax affairs. This amnesty would be granted on condition that each returning citizen registers afresh with the Internal Revenue department, and applies for a tax directive within 6 months of returning.

Extracts from the 2007 MDC document entitled ‘A New Zimbabwe – A New Beginning’

Labour:

Specific programmes will be launched to attract back the large proportion of skilled workers who have left Zimbabwe in recent years for ‘greener pastures’ in neighbouring and overseas countries. While Zimbabwe is well endowed with natural resources, more important in the modern world are its human resources. The MDC will strive to create and maintain world-class training and skills-development programmes that will make it possible for the country to compete effectively in the global economy.

Home Affairs:

The Registrar General’s Office
The new Registrar-General will … be given instructions that will result in the following:

•Birth, death and marriage certificates will be issued expeditiously at all administrative offices throughout the country. Delays in serving applicants will not be tolerated, and regular surveys of customer satisfaction will be conducted by an independent agency to determine the levels of service being achieved.

• All persons born in Zimbabwe will automatically receive the right to citizenship, which will be for life and may not be revoked under any circumstances.

• All persons who have held the right of permanent residence for five years shall be eligible to apply for citizenship by registration.

• All persons marrying a person with Zimbabwe citizenship shall be entitled to citizenship by registration.

• All citizens will have the right to travel documents. Such documents will be reasonably priced in relation to their cost and be made available without difficulty by post or in person at all administrative offices of the Registrar-General. Application forms will be made readily available without charge and all applications dealt with expeditiously.

• All citizens will have the responsibility to register with the Registrar-General’s office and will receive a National Registration Number. This will be associated with a Registration Card that will be acceptable as a means of identity throughout the country. Registration and the subsequent issuance of the appropriate documentation will be completed in a single exercise and within a reasonable time frame that will not exceed two hours.

Foreign Policy:

The Diaspora

In addition to serving the interests of all Zimbabweans living abroad, the MDC will seek to persuade those with skills and resources to return home to participate in the stabilization and reconstruction of Zimbabwean society.

Health sector:

Human Resources

To staff health facilities adequately a new approach to human resource development will be required. The key elements of such a human resources policy will be:

• Encouraging SRNs, doctors and pharmacists to return to Zimbabwe with the waiving of registration fees, recognition of experience, and assistance with relocation.

• Encouraging specialist doctors to return with the same incentives, making them eligible for unpaid leave to undertake short-term specialist work in other countries.