Document checklist
For descendants of the African diaspora applying for Beninese nationality under Loi n° 2024-31. Everything your application needs, grouped by category. The Processing tags show what each document still needs before it's submission-ready. Wherever this says parent or grandparent, use whichever side of your family your lineage claim runs through.
A note on translations, up front: officials may not require certified French translations to submit your application online, but the process as written calls for them, and they may be expected at a later stage or in person. This tracker flags where translation applies below.
Apostilles and translations
This is what worked for me. I'm a U.S. citizen, and every source document I started with was in English. If your documents are in a different language, or you're applying from outside the U.S., some steps here may not map exactly to your situation.
Apostilles: get these done early. They're one of the two steps with the longest lead times and the least tolerance for being rushed.
Translations: the online portal may accept documents without certified French translations attached. I did not translate my documents into French for submission, and I reached the Certificate of Eligibility stage without them. The official process, as written, calls for certified French translations. I honestly don't know yet whether that holds for every applicant or resurfaces at a later stage, so budget time for translation as a safety margin, and confirm current requirements at myafroorigins.bj before you submit.
This process is still evolving.
Law No. 2024-31 is new, and the application process is being actively refined: requirements, portal behavior, and processing times have all shifted since launch.
This tracker carries a version number. When the process changes, an updated version is issued and sent to everyone who purchased any earlier version, at no additional cost.
If you downloaded this for free without submitting your email, check back at my site for the most current version.
Always confirm current requirements at myafroorigins.bj. This tracker organizes the process, it does not replace the official source.
Where you are in the process
Beyond the documents and tasks here, the overall application moves through five milestones once you submit: 1. Submission (in queue and processing), 2. Review (Level 1 review), 3. Certificate of Eligibility (officials grant your Certificate of Eligibility for Beninese Nationality), 4. Decree (you wait for the official decree), 5. Ceremony (you travel to Benin for the in-person nationality ceremony). The 7 phases below cover everything through submission and the wait for your Certificate of Eligibility and decree. Travel prep and the in-person ceremony are their own phase, covered separately.
Task checklist: 7 phases
Work these in order. Most documents can't be apostilled before they're issued, and can't be submitted before they're apostilled. Phases 4 and 5 are where most timelines slip, start those the moment a document is in hand.
Once you've got a handle on the checklist, the full guide walks through the why behind every item, apostilles, translations, the portal itself, plus fillable templates built from a real application.
See what's next →Educational resource only. Not legal or immigration advice.
The Decision Engineer · Engineer your biggest life decisions.