The Lebanese nationality was established on August 30, 1924 pursuant to Decision 2825, which was issued by French High Commissioner Maxime Weygande and stipulated the following:

 

Article 1: Every Turkish national who happens to be settling within the territories of Greater Lebanon on August 30, 1924, shall be automatically deemed a Lebanese national and shall henceforth lose his/her Turkish nationality.

 

Article 2: People above 18 years of age who have lost their Turkish nationality and have been automatically granted the Lebanese nationality, under Article 1, shall, within two years starting August 30, 1924, be left with the option to choose Turkish nationality.

 

The Lebanese Nationality Law was issued by French General Sarrail pursuant to Decision 15, dated January 19, 1925. The Law and its subsequent amendments provided the following:

 

Any person may acquire the Lebanese nationality by being either:

 

    -Born to a Lebanese father;

    -Born in Greater Lebanon and acquiring by birth a foreign nationality;

    -Born in Greater Lebanon to unknown parents or to parents of unknown nationalities.

    -A foreign woman married to a Lebanese shall become Lebanese one year after the registration of the marriage act.

    -A Lebanese woman married to a foreigner shall retain her Lebanese nationality unless she requests the striking off of her registration from the census records because of the acquisition of her husband’s nationality. Upon her request, the woman may restore her original nationality in the case of divorce or the death of her husband. 

    - A foreigner who has acquired Lebanese nationality by means of naturalization shall not be entitled to public office whose salary is covered by the government, a public administration or a concession company, unless after 10 years of his naturalization (this amendment was approved pursuant to a law issued on June 7, 1937).

--Lebanese women married prior to the 1932 census who lost their nationalities and were not registered in the census records may, after the dissolution of marriage, through either divorce or the death of the spouse, obtain a court ruling enabling their registration if they were proven to be present on Lebanese territories on August 30, 1924. Those among them who happen to be outside Lebanon at the said date may reacquire their nationality pursuant to Article 2 of the law issued on December 31, 1946.

 

   --A Lebanese woman married to a foreigner may request the acquisition of the Lebanese nationality separately from her spouse, provided that the latter consents to her request and that she proves five-year continuous residence in Lebanon.

 

According to Decree no. 10828 dated October 9, 1962, the urgent draft law referred to Parliament shall be put into practice pursuant to Decree no. 9162 dated April 2, 1962. The draft law provides the following:

 

“A Lebanese shall be denaturalized if:

    He is convicted of a crime threatening the State security;

    He belongs to an organization that has attacked or conspired against the security of the State; 

    He belongs to a dissolved or unauthorized political organization or has been convicted of carrying out activities in the interest of the said organization.

 

The nationality is withdrawn in one of the above-mentioned cases pursuant to a decree issued in the Cabinet upon the proposition of the Minister of the Interior.”
 

During his presidential term, President Michel Suleiman issued three decrees naturalizing 749 Arab and foreign citizens.
 

As illustrated in Table 1, 110 citizens were granted the Lebanese nationality pursuant to the first Decree no. 10214 dated March 22, 2013. Among those, there were Jordanian nationals who are reportedly relatives of the former PM Najib Mikati.
 

















Second Decree
The second Decree no. 10215, dated March 22, 2013 approved the application for naturalization submitted by the Syrian Greek Orthodox Patriarch Mar Yuhanna Al-Yaziji X. 

Third Decree
As illustrated in Table 2, 638 citizens were granted the Lebanese nationality pursuant to the third Decree issued on May 19, 2014 on the eve of expiry of Suleiman’s presidential term. 
 

















 
















 
















 




















  In 1994, Decree no. 5247 dated June 20, 1994 was issued and stipulated the naturalization of a significant number of non-Lebanese. Out of the 153,452 nationals who were granted Lebanese citizenship, a majority of 65,734 were Syrians as illustrated in the table below.

Individuals who obtained the Lebanese nationality pursuant to Decree no. 5247