Jordanian nationality law

National status under British mandate

The region of Transjordan was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1517.^[3] Accordingly, Ottoman nationality law applied to the area.^[4] Transjordan was governed by the Ottomans for four centuries until the 1916–1918 Arab Revolt during the First World War.^[5] The area nominally remained an Ottoman territory following the conclusion of the war until 1922, when the United Kingdom obtained a League of Nations mandate for Palestine, which included Transjordan. Similarly, local residents ostensibly continued their status as Ottoman subjects.^[6] The terms of the mandate allowed Britain to exclude its application on certain parts of the region; this exclusion was exercised on the territory east of the Jordan River,^[7] where the Emirate of Transjordan was established.^[8]


The 1923 Treaty of Lausanne established the basis for separate nationalities in Transjordan and all other territories ceded by the Ottoman Empire.^[9] The 1928 Transjordanian Nationality Law confirmed the transition from Ottoman/Turkish to Transjordanian nationality in local legislation; all Ottoman/Turkish subjects who had been resident for at least 12 months in Transjordan on 6 August 1924 became Transjordanian nationals on 1 May 1928.^[10] Ottoman subjects born in Transjordan who had submitted applications to become Transjordanian before 6 August 1926 could acquire that nationality subject to discretionary approval of a designated "head supervisor".^[11] Foreigners could naturalize as Transjordanian nationals after residing in the territory for at least two years preceding an application, demonstrating proficiency in Arabic, affirming their intention to permanently reside in Transjordan, and satisfying a good character requirement.^[12]


Individuals who acquired foreign citizenship automatically lost Transjordanian nationality after receiving Cabinet approval, as well as any person who joined a foreign military without government approval. Children of a Transjordanian father automatically held Transjordanian nationality, and minor children likewise lost that nationality if their fathers ceased to hold that status. At age 18, they had the option of resuming Transjordanian nationality within two years. Any person who acquired Transjordanian nationality by birth could also voluntarily relinquish that status within one year of reaching the age of majority.^[13]


Standard regulations in the British Empire at the time strictly complied with the doctrine of coverture, where a woman's consent to marry a foreigner was also assumed to be intent to denaturalize.^[14] The 1928 Nationality Law mirrored this in Transjordanian nationality law;^[15] Transjordanian women who married foreign men automatically lost their Transjordanian nationality and foreign women who married Transjordanian men automatically became Transjordanian nationals. There were two exceptions to this: wives who had acquired or lost Transjordanian nationality through their marriage could elect to relinquish or reacquire that status within two years of their husbands' deaths or if they had ceased to be married.^[13]


Despite Britain's role in representing Transjordan internationally and its responsibility for territorial defense, domestic law treated the protectorate as foreign territory. Transjordanian nationals were treated as British protected persons, rather than British subjects, meaning that they were aliens in the United Kingdom. Protected persons could not travel to the UK without first requesting permission, but were afforded the same consular protection as British subjects when travelling outside of the British Empire.^[16] This arrangement continued until Transjordan gained independence in 1946 and the Emirate became the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan.^[17]