Born in Belgium, three Moroccan children denied nationality because of their undocumented father

The parents, both born in Morocco and Moroccan nationals, live in Belgium with their three children. The children are also Moroccan, but they were all born on Belgian territory and have always had their primary residence there.

On 20 December 2022, the couple submitted three declarations to the civil registrar of the city of Antwerp so that the children could become Belgian. All of them were under 12 at the time.

On paper, the children met the conditions directly applicable to them. But another requirement blocked the three applications: for this procedure, the parents must in principle have had their primary residence in Belgium during the ten years preceding the declaration.

The mother meets this condition. The father does not.

On 20 March 2023, the public prosecutor therefore issued a negative opinion. The father is residing illegally in Belgium and is not validly registered in the population register, the foreigners’ register or the waiting register. His administrative status was then enough to prevent the three children from obtaining the nationality they had requested.

The case is all the more notable because people of Moroccan origin are very numerous among those who have acquired Belgian nationality: among those for whom Morocco was the first nationality recorded, 75% had become Belgian according to the latest available data.

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The parents brought the matter before the courts. On 12 April 2024, however, the Antwerp Court of First Instance confirmed that the legal condition had not been met.

They appealed a few days later.

The Antwerp Court of Appeal then identified an essential point: the three children did meet all the conditions required for this procedure, and their mother also met the legal requirements. The father’s situation therefore remained the only obstacle.

The father causes all three children to lose their nationality

The problem stems from a distinction in Belgian legislation.

When one parent has left Belgium after having had their primary residence there, the other parent may, under certain conditions and with their consent, make the declaration for the child alone. However, this possibility was not provided for when the other parent had never had a legal primary residence in Belgium, as was the case with this Moroccan father.

The Court of Appeal then asked the Constitutional Court whether this difference in treatment complied with the principle of equality.

In its judgment no.12/2026 of 22 January 2026, the Constitutional Court answered in the negative. It held that several provisions of the Belgian Nationality Code violated Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution.

The judges focused in particular on the objective pursued: determining whether a child has a sufficiently close connection with Belgian society. In this family, however, all three children were born in Belgium and have lived there since birth, while their mother meets the residence condition imposed by law.

The Court therefore sees no reason why the fact that a father was once legally domiciled in Belgium before leaving should be treated more favorably than the case of a father who has never had legal primary residence there. This difference is irrelevant to measuring the children’s connection with Belgium.

This case comes as nationality procedures can already become complicated for families living between Belgium and Morocco.

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The Constitutional Court’s decision does not itself immediately grant the three children Belgian passports. It answers the questions put to it by the Antwerp Court of Appeal, which must now continue the proceedings while taking the finding of unconstitutionality into account.

But the obstacle that had caused their applications to fail has been fundamentally called into question: three children born in Belgium who have always lived there cannot be treated differently solely because their Moroccan father has never had the legal primary residence required by the Code.