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Lebanese citizenship through the mother, the father or marriage: what the law says

Published on 31.10.2026

Lebanese citizenship through the mother passes on in only two cases set out in the law: a child born outside marriage whose filiation is established first with the Lebanese mother, while the child is a minor, and the minor child of a mother who became Lebanese by naturalisation and outlived the father. Through the father, it passes to every child, wherever the child is born. Through marriage, only the foreign wife of a Lebanese man can apply, one year after the marriage is registered in the Lebanese civil register.

This article quotes the law itself, Order No. 15 of 19 January 1925, and the instructions published by the Lebanese administration and by two consular posts. It takes no position in the debate over these rules.

The short answer, case by case

  • Lebanese father: the child is Lebanese from birth (article 1), even if born abroad and whatever the mother’s nationality. The birth still has to be registered in the Lebanese civil register.
  • Lebanese mother and foreign father, married: the law does not provide for the child to be Lebanese through the mother.
  • Lebanese mother, child born outside marriage: the child is Lebanese if filiation is established while the child is a minor, and with the mother first (article 2).
  • Mother who became Lebanese by naturalisation and outlived the father: her minor children become Lebanese, unless they decline within a year of coming of age (article 4).
  • Foreign wife of a Lebanese man: she becomes Lebanese on request, one year after the marriage is registered in the Lebanese civil register (article 5, 1960 version).
  • Foreign husband of a Lebanese woman: no route based on marriage in the law in force; the article that provided one was repealed in 1939.
  • Lebanese woman who marries a foreigner: she remains Lebanese (article 6, 1960 version).

The law: Order No. 15 of 1925 and its amendments

Lebanese citizenship still rests on Order No. 15/S of 19 January 1925. Its original version, supplied by the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is reproduced in French in the United Nations collection of nationality laws (1954). It was amended in 1934 and 1939 (article 3), then by a law of 11 January 1960 (articles 5, 6 and 7).

We found no consolidated version published online by a Lebanese authority. The Directorate General of Personal Status (Ministry of the Interior) quotes article 5 in its 1960 version. For articles 6 and 7, we quote compilations published by a university database, flagged as such in the sources.

Article 1 reads (our translation from the French): “The following are Lebanese: 1. Persons born of a Lebanese father. 2. Persons born in the territory of Greater Lebanon who cannot show that they acquired a foreign nationality by filiation at birth. 3. Persons born in the territory of Greater Lebanon of unknown parents or parents of unknown nationality.”

Lebanese citizenship through the father: it exists, it must be registered

A child born to a Lebanese father is Lebanese from birth, even if born in France, Canada, the Emirates, Nigeria or Brazil. But until the birth is entered in the Lebanese civil register, the child has no civil status record, identity card or Lebanese passport.

Registration is done at the Lebanese consulate or embassy that covers your area, which sends the record to Lebanon. For France, see our guide Birth registration at the Lebanese consulate: a child born in France. The file requires the parents’ Lebanese marriage certificate: if the marriage was never registered in Lebanon, start there.

Lebanese citizenship through the mother: the two cases provided for

1. A child born outside marriage (article 2). The 1925 text reads (our translation): “A natural child whose filiation is established during minority shall take Lebanese nationality if the parent with respect to whom proof of filiation was made first is Lebanese. If this proof results for the father and the mother from the same instrument or the same judgment, the child shall take the nationality of the father, if he is Lebanese.”

So there are three conditions: filiation is established before the child comes of age; it is established first with the Lebanese mother; and not in the same instrument as the father’s. The order matters in practice: for an acknowledgement made abroad, the Directorate General of Personal Status asks, if the local record does not show it, for a statement from the local authorities saying which parent acknowledged the child first.

2. A naturalised mother who outlives the father (article 4). The text reads (our translation): “Minor children of a father, or of a surviving mother, who become naturalised Lebanese shall become Lebanese, unless they decline this status within the year following their majority.” It covers a mother who acquires Lebanese nationality, after the father’s death.

Does this extend to a mother who is Lebanese by birth and widowed from a foreigner? The text does not say so. A study published in 2021 by the National Commission for Lebanese Women notes court decisions both ways. Before taking any step on this basis, seek advice from a lawyer registered in Lebanon.

Outside these two cases, the child of a Lebanese mother and a foreign father who are married is not Lebanese through the mother. The child may be Lebanese under article 1 if born in Lebanon without receiving any foreign nationality by filiation.

Lebanese citizenship by marriage: the foreign wife of a Lebanese man

Article 5, in its version of 11 January 1960 quoted by the Directorate General of Personal Status, says in substance: a foreign woman who marries a Lebanese man becomes Lebanese, at her request, one year after the marriage is registered at the civil status office (our translation from the Arabic).

The Directorate General’s Note No. 35 of 18 March 2019 sets out how it is applied:

  • the one-year period runs from the date the marriage certificate is executed in the Lebanese civil register, or from the date the marriage is entered when it is recorded by judgment or consular decision;
  • a marriage registered administratively and a marriage entered by judgment or consular decision are treated in the same way;
  • in Lebanon, the application is filed at the civil status office where the husband is registered, not according to place of residence; the officer may not refuse it, orally or in writing;
  • the nationality department may ask for additional documents.

From abroad, the application goes through the embassy or consulate, which sends it by diplomatic bag. The emigrants’ department page states that a second foreign wife cannot obtain Lebanese nationality.

Example of a file in France: at the Consulate General of Lebanon in Marseille (in French), both spouses must attend, by appointment. Documents required:

  • a copy of the husband’s Lebanese passport;
  • two copies of the wife’s passport or identity card showing her married status and her husband’s name;
  • the wife’s birth certificate legalised by the notaries’ office for your region (original and photocopy);
  • the marriage certificate in Arabic legalised by the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (original and photocopy);
  • the family civil status record in Arabic, legalised in the same way (original and photocopy);
  • if a surname or first name was gallicised, the French birth certificate showing it or the naturalisation decree;
  • your phone number and e-mail address on a plain sheet, and two stamped envelopes addressed to you.

Consular fee: €44 in Marseille. The Embassy of Lebanon in Belgium (in French) also charges €44, requires the wife to attend and asks for the birth certificate translated into Arabic. Other posts set their own documents and fees: check the website of the one that covers you. Neither post gives a wait time for this application.

In Lebanon, the Directorate General of Personal Status says the application itself is exempt from fees; a stamp of 50,000 Lebanese pounds is charged for each certified copy attached. Whether the wife keeps her original nationality depends on her own country’s law: check with its authorities.

Foreign husband of a Lebanese woman: what the law provides

The 1925 version allowed naturalisation, by order and on request, of “a foreigner who has married a Lebanese woman and who proves uninterrupted residence of one year in Lebanon since his marriage” (article 3, our translation). This article was repealed by Order No. 122/LR of 19 June 1939, when a law of 27 May 1939 on naturalisation came into force.

Neither the Directorate General of Personal Status nor the two consular posts consulted publish any procedure for a husband to acquire nationality by marriage. For him, there is no equivalent of the application open to a foreign wife.

Does a Lebanese woman who marries a foreigner keep her nationality?

Yes. The Directorate General of Personal Status states: “a Lebanese woman who marries a foreigner remains Lebanese” (our translation). This is article 6 in its version of 11 January 1960: she remains Lebanese until she asks for her registration to be struck off because she has acquired her husband’s nationality.

Before 1960, the rule was the reverse: she lost her nationality if the law of her husband’s country gave her his. Article 7 allows a woman who lost it in this way to recover it, on request, after the marriage is dissolved. The Directorate General of Personal Status also publishes a procedure for “a Lebanese woman who lost her nationality through marriage to a foreigner before 11/1/1960”: an application at the civil status office where she was registered, with a valid residence permit or visa for Lebanon, followed by an inquiry by General Security.

Recovering citizenship through an ancestor

This is a separate route, not based on marriage or on the mother. Law No. 41 of 24 November 2015 allowed a person to apply to recover Lebanese nationality if their own name, that of a male ancestor in the paternal line, or that of a male relative of their father up to the second degree appeared in the census registers of 1921, 1924 or 1932 (Marseille consulate). However, applications had to be submitted before 25 November 2025, according to the Lebanese consulate in New York. As of 23 October 2026, we found no law reopening this deadline. Some consular pages still describe this route without mentioning the deadline: check with the consulate before preparing a file.

Sources

Checked on 23.10.2026.