Morocco Considers Extending Citizenship Rights to Foreign Spouses of Moroccan Women

Article 10 of the Nationality Code states: "The foreign woman who has married a Moroccan man can, after habitual and regular residence in Morocco of the household for at least five years, subscribe, during the marital relationship, a declaration addressed to the Minister of Justice, with a view to acquiring Moroccan nationality." This article thus restricts access to Moroccan citizenship for foreigners married to Moroccan women. In Parliament, the Mouvement Populaire (MP, opposition) group in the House of Representatives is calling for its amendment. "The establishment of a kind of balance in the nationality code makes it possible to ensure stability and integration in Moroccan society. It is abnormal that a foreign man who has married a Moroccan woman is not granted Moroccan nationality, while it is granted to a foreign woman who has married a Moroccan man. It is necessary to enact laws that are in conformity with international conventions," explained Mohamed Ouzzine, Secretary General of the MP.

In a written question to Abdellatif Ouahbi, Minister of Justice a month ago, Driss Sentissi, president of the MP parliamentary group, mentioned the necessary equality in the provisions of the Nationality Code. To support his argument, he made it known that many countries had succeeded in implementing this procedure and that "the call for equality between the two sexes does not in any way lead to opposition between man and woman, as some believe." According to the elected official, the MP parliamentary group will soon present several proposals to the government concerning the amendments to be made in this regard to the Nationality Code, reports the Arabic-language daily Al Ahdath Al Maghribia.

In response to the written question from the MP deputy, the minister said he had "presented bill no. 019.13 aimed at amending Article 10 of the Moroccan nationality code, which will allow foreign spouses to acquire Moroccan nationality through marriage to a Moroccan citizen." But the text has not yet been approved by the government.