Former Malawian citizens should check the restoration route before applying for dual citizenship

Choose restoration rather than ordinary registration

Adults who lost Malawian citizenship when acquiring another nationality under the former restriction should check the Department of Immigration's dual-citizenship restoration route. Its dedicated guidance identifies Form AC for that situation. It distinguishes restoration from Form AA, for notification and registration after acquiring another citizenship, and Form AE, for someone reaching nineteen who already acquired another citizenship as a minor. These are different application categories, not interchangeable versions of one form.

The department says dual citizenship is available only to Malawians by birth or descent; people who obtained Malawian citizenship by naturalisation, registration or conferment are excluded. This is established guidance following the earlier legislative change, not a new November entitlement. Before preparing the restoration file, establish both how Malawian citizenship was originally acquired and how it was lost. Having an old passport helps document the history but does not by itself decide which application is appropriate.

Complete the declarations and arrange the proper witness

Form AC must be completed in duplicate and in block capitals. It asks for the date and place of birth, village, traditional authority and district, the original basis of citizenship, and the date citizenship was renounced or lost. It also requests both parents' details, including their national identification numbers, and particulars of criminal convictions and pending criminal proceedings in any country. Applicants should prepare those details before arranging certification rather than leaving the sworn declaration inconsistent with the application.

The relative's affidavit records the relationship and attests that the applicant is Malawian by birth or descent and that the particulars are correct. Both that affidavit and the applicant's own declaration provide for witnessing before a magistrate or commissioner for oaths. Although the form's list of original acquisition methods includes other categories, that printed list does not override the dedicated dual-citizenship guidance's birth-or-descent limitation. Ask Immigration to resolve an unusual citizenship history before treating the form's alternatives as proof of eligibility.

Submit the evidence checklist with the application

The restoration checklist requires duplicate documents, a covering letter, completed forms and two passport photographs. It calls for certified copies of a valid or expired Malawian passport's personal-details page, a parent's passport page if the applicant was included there, and the applicant's birth certificate. It also provides space to identify other evidence of the applicant's or parents' Malawian citizenship. Include the checklist itself: its final instruction says it accompanies the application.

An affidavit from a parent or relative is described as an alternative where specified documents are missing, but the checklist's cross-reference is unclear: it mentions numbered items that do not cleanly correspond to its current document list. Do not interpret that wording as permission to omit every unavailable civil record. Tell Immigration exactly which birth or passport evidence is missing and ask whether the proposed affidavit meets that gap. Add the email address and telephone number requested so the office can identify how to contact the applicant.

Separate the checklist payment from the approval-stage fee

Two official resources describe payments differently. The restoration checklist lists a prescribed fee of K100,000. The separate citizenship-fees page lists US$100 for restoration and says its listed fees are payable when an application succeeds. The public pages do not establish whether these are separate processing and approval charges, alternative amounts, or instructions awaiting reconciliation. The applicant should ask for the applicable charge, currency, stage and receipt arrangements before paying; converting one amount into the other would not resolve that question.

Confirm the receiving office and keep travel permission separate

The department's general citizenship service directs applicants to Immigration Headquarters or regional immigration offices and says applicants attend personally rather than through recognised agents. It gives a forty-working-day processing aim and warns that interviews or further documents may be requested. Because that page covers citizenship applications generally, confirm how those arrangements apply to a restoration application, especially if applying from overseas; it does not establish an overseas postal route or an individual decision deadline.

The official contact page lists Blantyre headquarters at +265 01 832565, Lilongwe at +265 01 759270 and Mzuzu at +265 01 311474. Use those published contacts to ask which office receives Form AC and how any overseas witnessing is accepted. Neither the restoration checklist nor the general processing aim says a pending application grants a passport or extends permission to stay. Continue arranging travel and residence on the basis of the documents currently held until the authorities determine the restoration application.