- Ways to apply
- Citizenship by birth (Art. 14(1)) · Regaining citizenship (§11–13)
- Dual citizenship
- Kept, however you apply
Each answer assumes none of your ancestors became a citizen of another country before their child was born. Below is what changes each answer.
On this page›
- 01Who qualifies
- 02Dates that matter
- 03Through your mother
- 04Keeping your citizenship
- 05Ways to apply
- 06The documents
- 07What it takes
- 08Where the records live
- 09Law changes
- 10Other options
- 11Sources
Who qualifies, generation by generation
LIKELY
Can you claim Kenyan citizenship through a parent?
Citizenship by birth (Art. 14(1))
A child of a Kenyan citizen is a citizen by birth, wherever the child is born.
What changes the answer
- POSSIBLE
If someone in your family became a citizen of another country before the next person in your family was bornRegaining citizenship, then citizenship by birthIf your parent naturalised elsewhere before you were born, Kenyan law treated that as a loss of citizenship at the time — but your parent can apply to regain it, and Kenya’s dual-citizenship rule means a later loss like this no longer happens.
POSSIBLE
Can you claim Kenyan citizenship through a grandparent?
Citizenship by birth, generation by generation
Kenyan citizenship runs through a parent who was a citizen at your birth, including a parent who was themselves a citizen by descent; the case is documenting that your parent held it before you were born.
What would settle itWhether your parent’s own Kenyan citizenship, at your birth, can be documented through your grandparent.
What changes the answer
- UNLIKELY
If someone in your family became a citizen of another country before the next person in your family was bornIf your grandparent had already naturalised elsewhere before your parent was born, your parent was not born to a Kenyan citizen, which stops citizenship reaching you; your grandparent can still apply to regain Kenyan citizenship for their own sake.
UNLIKELY
Can you claim Kenyan citizenship through a great-grandparent?
Citizenship by birth, generation by generation
Kenya’s rule reaches as far as the facts can show a parent was a citizen at each birth in turn; a great-grandparent alone, with no living or documentable parent in between, does not reach you directly.
What would settle itWhether a parent or grandparent can first establish their own Kenyan citizenship.
The dates that matter
No date named in Kenya’s rule decides who qualifies. The answers above turn on the family’s facts, not on when anyone was born or left.
Claiming through your mother or grandmother
Kenya’s rule gives the same answer whether the line runs through a mother or a father.
Dual citizenship with your home country
You keep your citizenship.
On every open route, the rule lets a citizen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina or South Africa keep that citizenship.
Every way to apply, and the law behind it
The law
The law
What would settle an unsure case
- Whether your parent’s naturalisation happened before or after 27 August 2010, and whether they have applied to regain citizenship.
- POSSIBLE
Through a grandparent
The law
- A person is a citizen by birth if, on the day of the person’s birth, either parent is or was a citizen of Kenya; this status arises by operation of law and does not require the parent to have first registered it. Constitution of Kenya, 2010, Art. 14(1) (citizenship by birth) and Art. 16 (dual citizenship) ↗
- A person is a citizen by birth only if a parent was a citizen of Kenya at the date of that person’s birth; a parent who had already lost Kenyan citizenship by acquiring another was not a citizen at the next birth. Constitution of Kenya, 2010, Art. 14(1) (citizenship by birth) and Art. 16 (dual citizenship) ↗
- The grandparent can apply to regain the citizenship lost this way, but that does not reach back to restore it at your parent’s birth. Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act, 2011 (No. 12 of 2011), §6 (citizenship by birth) and §11–13 (regaining citizenship) ↗
- A person is a citizen by birth only if a parent was a citizen of Kenya at that person’s own birth; each generation depends on the one before it. Constitution of Kenya, 2010, Art. 14(1) (citizenship by birth) and Art. 16 (dual citizenship) ↗
What would settle an unsure case
- Whether your parent’s own Kenyan citizenship, at your birth, can be documented through your grandparent.
- Whether someone closer in the family has an option once the grandparent regains citizenship going forward.
- Whether a parent or grandparent can first establish their own Kenyan citizenship.
The documents, as the rule lists them
Citizenship by birth (Art. 14(1))
Through a parent
- Your parent’s Kenyan birth certificate or identity document
- Your birth certificate, registered with a Kenyan mission
Regaining citizenship, then citizenship by birth
Through a parent, if someone in your family became a citizen of another country before the next person in your family was born
- Your parent’s Kenyan birth certificate or identity document
- Form 1: Regaining Citizenship
- Your birth certificate
Citizenship by birth, generation by generation
Through a grandparent
- Your grandparent’s Kenyan birth certificate or identity document
- Birth records linking each generation
Most countries also want proof that your ancestor didn’t become a citizen somewhere else before their child was born: the naturalization record with its date, or a letter saying there isn’t one.
What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides
Citizenship by birth (Art. 14(1))
- Time
- A few weeks to a few months to register the birth with a Kenyan mission and obtain a passport.
- Cost
- About $150–400: certified U.S. records, notarisation, and Kenyan passport fees.
- The hard part
- None if your parent’s Kenyan birth certificate or ID is in hand — this is registration, not application.
- Who decides
- A Kenyan embassy or consulate for your address, or the Directorate of Immigration Services in Nairobi.
- The first record
- Your parent’s Kenyan birth certificate or national ID, from Department of Civil Registration Services. Request a certified birth certificate through eCitizen with the parent’s name and ID number, or through the Civil Registration office. ecitizen.go.ke ↗
How it’s filed
- Where
- By mail to the Kenya Embassy, 2249 R St NW, Washington, DC 20008 (immigration@kenyaembassydc.org, +1 202-387-6101). Anyone with knowledge of the birth can apply; the mission countersigns the form. office list ↗
- How
- By post; no appearance needed
- Fee
- About $380
- Decision
- 2–10 weeks
What goes in the file (6)›
- Form BDA 1, signed by the applicant and countersigned by the mission
- Certified or notarized copy of your foreign birth certificate (with an English translation if it is not in English)
- Copy of your foreign passport, if any
- Copies of both parents’ current Kenyan passports, birth certificates and second-generation ID cards (for a non-Kenyan parent, a certified copy of the foreign passport and birth certificate)
- Copies of both parents’ Kenyan passports valid at the time of your birth
- At 18 or over: proof of your dual-citizenship declaration
What goes wrong (3)›
- Fees, by money order or cashier’s check to the Embassy of the Republic of Kenya: $150 to register the birth, and $230 for the declaration of dual citizenship that every Kenyan aged 18 or over with another nationality must file (KES 20,000 processing plus KES 10,000 under the Directorate’s charter). A minor pays only the $150.
- The Directorate’s charter sets two weeks for the dual-citizenship declaration; the embassy’s charter allows up to ten weeks for birth certificates and other documents that need Nairobi’s approval.
- Born before 27 August 1987 and held another citizenship before 27 August 2010: Kenyan citizenship was lost and must be regained first (Constitution Art. 14(5)), filed together with the declaration.
source ↗
Regaining citizenship, then citizenship by birth
- Time
- 6–12 months for the Directorate of Immigration Services to decide the regaining application (Form 1), then the same as any citizen-by-birth case for you.
- Cost
- About $300–700: certified records and Kenyan passport fees for both generations.
- The hard part
- Your parent must first regain the Kenyan citizenship they lost by naturalising abroad before 27 August 2010; the Directorate does not publish a standard timeline for Form 1.
- Who decides
- The Directorate of Immigration Services, Nairobi, through a Kenyan embassy or consulate for the initial filing.
- The first record
- Your parent’s original Kenyan birth certificate, from Directorate of Immigration Services. Complete Form 1 (Regaining Citizenship) through the Directorate with proof of the parent’s original Kenyan citizenship and current foreign citizenship. immigration.go.ke ↗
How it’s filed
- Where
- By mail to the Kenya Embassy, 2249 R St NW, Washington, DC 20008 (immigration@kenyaembassydc.org, +1 202-387-6101), which forwards the file to the Directorate in Nairobi (the consulates in New York and Los Angeles also accept signed applications); or online on eFNS and in person at Nyayo House. office list ↗
- How
- By post; no appearance needed
- Fee
- About $770
- Decision
- 6–12 months
What goes in the file (6)›
- Completed regaining form (Form 1, printed from the eFNS portal)
- Declaration of dual citizenship (Form 2, notarized on page 2), filed at the same time
- Two copies of the Kenyan passport bio page (never had one: the parent’s Kenyan passport)
- Two copies of the other country’s passport bio page and of the naturalization certificate, or of the foreign birth certificate if born abroad
- Two passport photos taken within the last month
- Proof of any name change (marriage certificate, divorce decree, Kenyan deed poll); a U.S. court name-change petition is not recognized
What goes wrong (2)›
- For a Kenyan by birth, born in Kenya or abroad before 27 August 1987, who acquired another citizenship before 27 August 2010. Regaining and the dual-citizenship declaration are filed together: $540 plus $230 by money order or cashier’s check, the dollar equivalent of KES 70,000 and KES 30,000 under the Directorate’s charter. The regaining fee is not refunded.
- The Directorate’s charter sets six months for the regaining decision. Anyone who lost citizenship must not apply for a Kenyan ID or passport until it is regained.
source ↗
Citizenship by birth, generation by generation
- Time
- A few months once your parent’s own Kenyan citizenship, at your birth, is documented.
- Cost
- About $300–600 across the records needed for both generations.
- The hard part
- Showing your parent held Kenyan citizenship by descent at the time you were born; the Directorate has no separate registration step for this and expects the birth and civil records to prove it directly.
- Who decides
- A Kenyan embassy or consulate for your address, or the Directorate of Immigration Services in Nairobi.
- The first record
- Your grandparent’s Kenyan birth certificate or national ID, from Department of Civil Registration Services. Request the certified birth certificate through eCitizen or the Civil Registration office with the grandparent’s name and ID number. ecitizen.go.ke ↗
How it’s filed
- Where
- By mail to the Kenya Embassy, 2249 R St NW, Washington, DC 20008 (immigration@kenyaembassydc.org, +1 202-387-6101), one generation at a time. office list ↗
- How
- By post; no appearance needed
- Fee
- About $760
- Decision
- 2–9 months
What goes in the file (4)›
- Your grandparent’s Kenyan birth certificate or national ID
- Your parent’s foreign birth certificate, certified or notarized, and Kenyan documents once issued
- Your own birth certificate, certified or notarized
- Proof of the dual-citizenship declaration for each Kenyan aged 18 or over
What goes wrong (1)›
- A child born abroad is Kenyan when a parent was Kenyan at the birth (Constitution Art. 14(1)), so the chain is filed from the top: the parent’s birth is registered and the parent declares dual citizenship ($150 plus $230), then the same for you. Each round runs up to ten weeks at the embassy; a parent born before 27 August 1987 who held another citizenship before 27 August 2010 regains it first.
source ↗
Fees are each office’s published fee, converted to U.S. dollars.
Where each record lives, and how to ask for it
birth
Department of Civil Registration Services
Requested online through eCitizen, in person at a civil registration office, or from the U.S. through the embassy in Washington.
- Takes
- 2–10 weeks
Good to know (1)›
- From the U.S., the embassy in Washington orders a copy of a Kenyan birth or death certificate: the search form, a copy of the original certificate, a letter of application, a $50 money order or cashier’s check and a prepaid tracked return envelope, by mail. The embassy’s service charter allows up to ten weeks for documents that need Nairobi’s approval.
source ↗
citizenship
Directorate of Immigration Services, regaining citizenship (Form 1)
Filed online on the Directorate’s eFNS portal, then the printed Form 1 and copies go to Nyayo House in Nairobi or a Kenyan mission, which forwards them.
- Takes
- 6–12 months
Good to know (1)›
- The Directorate’s 2025 service charter sets six months for a regaining decision, which is issued as a certificate of regaining Kenyan citizenship (Form 2).
source ↗
Translations
- Into
- English
- Who may translate
- No translation needed
- About
- $0–$0 a page
Kenyan civil records are issued in English, and U.S. records already are too, so no translation is needed either direction.
source ↗
The passport
- Where
- Apply and pay on eCitizen (Directorate of Immigration Services), then book an appointment and give biometrics in person at the Kenya Embassy, 2249 R St NW, Washington, DC 20008, bringing a prepaid tracked return envelope. The embassy mails the passport when it arrives from Nairobi. First-time applicants bring the Kenyan birth certificate, copies of a parent’s Kenyan ID and passport, and at 18 or over their own Kenyan national ID card.
- Fee
- About $58
- Time
- 3–10 weeks
- Fees under the Directorate’s 2025 charter, paid on eCitizen by card, mobile money or online banking: 34 pages KES 7,550 (about $58), 50 pages KES 9,550 (about $74), 66 pages KES 12,050 (about $93). Nairobi issues in 14 working days; the embassy’s charter allows up to ten weeks door to door.
- An adult first needs a Kenyan national ID card, issued by appointment at the embassy and the consulates in New York and Los Angeles.
- Anyone born before 27 August 1987 who held another citizenship before 27 August 2010 must show the certificate of regaining Kenyan citizenship.
source ↗
Recent and pending changes
We know of no pending bill or recent court ruling for Kenya.
We re-read the official pages behind this guide every day. When one changes, a person checks the rule before we update anything here.
If descent doesn’t reach you
One residence program leads to Kenya without an ancestor, each with its own law and road to citizenship.