Guidance

Namibia: Knowledge Base profile

Published 12 September 2025

© Crown copyright 2025

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About: Namibia

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

Contacts

If you have any questions about the document and your line manager or senior caseworker cannot help you or you think that the document has factual errors then email the HM Passport Office’s Guidance team.

If you notice any formatting errors in this document (broken links, spelling mistakes and so on) or have any comments about the layout or navigability of the document then you can email the HM Passport Office’s Guidance team.

Publication

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

  • version 3.0
  • published for Home Office staff on 8 September 2025

Changes from last version of this document

This document has been updated with minor formatting changes.

Namibia: names

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about names in Namibia.

There are no naming conventions in Namibia. However, Damara, Nama and San citizens may have special characters in their name, for example, an exclamation mark (!). They may use special characters in front of their forename or surname.

Change of name

Name changes are legal in Namibia. They must be registered with Home Affairs to make the name change official.

Namibia: nationality

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

Dual nationality is recognised in Namibia.

Namibia: legitimacy and parental responsibility

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about legitimacy and parental responsibility in Namibia.

Legitimacy

Namibia recognises a difference between legitimate and illegitimate births.

A child is considered:

  • legitimate if:
    • their parents are married at the time of birth
    • their parents marry after the birth
  • illegitimate if their parents never marry

Parental responsibility

Both parents equally share parental responsibility in Namibia.

Namibia: adoption

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about adoption in Namibia.

Adoption is legal in Namibia.

Namibia: surrogacy

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about surrogacy in Namibia.

Surrogacy is not recognised in Namibia.

Namibia: gender recognition

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about gender recognition in Namibia.

Transgender citizens are recognised in Namibia.

Transgender citizens can have their acquired gender on their identity documents. To do this, they must have a letter from a doctor to confirm they have changed their gender and must have this approved through the courts.

Namibia: civil partnerships and marriage

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about civil partnerships and marriage in Namibia.

Civil partnerships and same sex marriages are not recognised in Namibia.

Namibia recognises civil and religious marriages.

Namibia: documents

This section gives HM Passport Office operational staff information about documents from Namibia.

Birth certificates

There is no central register for births, they are registered by authorities in each region.

Births should be registered immediately. Late registration is allowed.

If an error is identified on a birth certificate, the authorities will correct their records and issue the parents with a new certificate.

The Namibia authorities issue two versions of birth certificate:

  • a full birth certificate (acceptable for HM Passport Office purposes)
  • an abridged (shortened) version (not acceptable for HM Passport Office purposes)

Marriage certificates

All marriages must be registered immediately at the Magistrates Office. The married couple are issued with a marriage certificate.

Marriage records are kept by Home Affairs.

There are two types of marriage certificate. One is issued by the Magistrate or church, and the other is issued if the customer is marrying a non-Namibia citizen.

Death certificates

All registered deaths are issued a death certificate by the Namibia authorities.

There are two different types of death certificate, one for those who:

  • die in the hospital
  • die outside of hospital (for example, at home)

Identity documents

Namibia has a mandatory identity card scheme.

The Ministry of Home Affairs issue all identity documents.

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