Guidance

Ivory Coast: Knowledge Base profile

Published 9 July 2025

About: Ivory Coast

This document contains useful information about Ivory Coast which will assist His Majesty’s Passport Office staff to process passport applications.

Contacts

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Publication

Below is information on when this version of the document was published:

• version 2.0
• published for Home Office staff on 3 July 2025

Changes from last version of this document

This document has been updated with formatting changes.

Ivory Coast: names

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about names in Ivory Coast

Change of name

Name changes are allowed in Ivory Coast through a court order.

For a married woman, the surname will be followed by ‘EPSE‘,(which is the abbreviation for EPOUSE, the French word for spouse) followed by the married name.

Ivory Coast: nationality

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about nationality in Ivory Coast.

Dual nationality is recognised in Ivory Coast only when another nationality is gained through:

• birth
• descent
• marriage

Ivory Coast nationals who gained their nationality by birth cannot voluntarily gain another nationality, for example, through registration or naturalisation.

Ivory Coast: legitimacy

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about legitimacy in Ivory Coast

Legitimacy

Ivory Coast recognises a difference between legitimate and illegitimate births.

A child is considered:

• legitimate if the parents:
  • are married at the time of the birth
  • marry after the birth
  • are not married at the time of birth but voluntarily recognise the child
  • are not married at the time of birth but the court establishes paternity
• illegitimate if the parents never marry

Ivory Coast: documents

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about documents in Ivory Coast.

Ivory Coast holds birth, death and marriage records from 1900. Paper records from 1900 to 1980 are held in a registry office in the Plateau district and all records from 1980 have been computerised.

There are 2 different types of birth, death and marriage certificates in Ivory Coast. There is the:

• Copie Integrale (long style certificate containing all details) which is acceptable for His Majesty’s passport purposes
• Extrait (basic details) which is not acceptable for His Majesty’s passport purposes

Birth certificates

Births in Ivory Coast must be registered within 3 months of the date of birth.

Late registration is allowed. Late registration must be made through a tribunal and incur an increased fee.  

Marriage certificates

Marriages in Ivory Coast are registered by the civil registration officer who officiated the wedding. Marriages must be registered within 8 days of the date of marriage.

The Ministry of the Interior will issue copies of the marriage certificate, but they will not be certified copies.

There are two types of marriage certificate:

• Copie Intégrale d’Acte de Mariage, which is the full version with detailed information on both spouses and their parents
• Extrait d’Acte de Mariage which is the shortened version

Death certificates

A death must be registered or declared within 15 days of the date of death.

Death certificates are issued within 10 days of the death being registered.