Oui da Benin
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About

As applicants ourselves, we know the questions. Now it's time for some answers!

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About the project

What's in a name

Oui da Benin is a play on Ouidah (the Beninese city), the French word "oui" (yes), and the Soulaani word "da" (to) – as in, "yes" da Benin, "oui" au Bénin. Soulaani is an autonym (a self-determined name) for the group otherwise known as Black American, African American, Negro, Colored, or Freedmen.

As applicants ourselves, we know the questions. Now it's time for some answers! We help Afro-descendants around the world navigate the official process of having their Beninese citizenship recognized via myafroorigins.bj – run the most popular questions by our chatbots and get answers based on official information shared by Benin, the MyAfroOrigins support team, and feedback from countless applicants.

The more of us who contribute detailed feedback on questions no one's answered yet, the more this data can benefit current and future applicants!

Not sure if we can help? Ask the Application Guide chat – it has a lot more info than we could fit here!

The Program

Under Law N° 2024-31 (amended in 2025), the Republic of Benin officially recognizes citizenship for Afro-descendants – people whose ancestors were trafficked off the African continent, as part of an African slave trade – including the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, as well as Indian Ocean, Red Sea, and Trans-Saharan routes.

Who Can Apply

Anyone 18+ who's not a citizen of any African country (yet) and who can prove an ancestor of Afro-descent was born in an area where enslaved Africans were trafficked to. You don't need to trace back to slavery – one ancestor born before 1944 is enough!

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Budget for more than just the application - once you're approved, you need to travel to Benin to finalize the process and should plan to stay for 1-2 weeks. If you want to order a passport, it'll cost you another 130,000 FCFA (~$216.67) and then there's a few minor expenses for documents you'll need before your citizenship ceremony, like the CNIB biometric ID card for 6,000 FCFA (~$10), the Birth certificate transcription for 2,000 FCFA (~$3.33) and the CIP-A card for 1,000 FCFA (~$1.67) from the ANIP office, plus ~2,000 FCFA (~$3.33) to have it laminated.

These are three separate documents, issued in this order. The NPI (Numéro Personnel d'Identification) is the first thing you get at the ANIP office, and it's printed on your CIP. The CIP (Certificat d'Identification Personnelle) has your NPI on it and can be used as a form of ID within Benin – the CIP-A (Certificat d'Identification Personnelle d'Afro-descendant) is the version issued specifically to Afro-descendants through this program. The CNIB (Carte Nationale d'Identité Biométrique) is Benin's national biometric ID card, which doubles as an ECOWAS travel card, so you can use it as a form of ID in all 12 ECOWAS countries.

Since the law was first passed, it's been possible to pass your citizenship down to children born after your citizenship was recognized. Since the 2025 amendment, it's also now possible to pass your citizenship down to children born before your citizenship was recognized, as long as they're still under 18.

Adult children apply independently through the myafroorigins.bj portal, but they can base their application entirely on their recognized parent's already-validated lineage. That makes their application a lot easier to approve!

Mitochondrial DNA or Y-DNA tests (like African Ancestry's maternal-line or paternal-line test) trace back 150,000+ years and can't speak to what ethnic groups your more recent ancestors might've belonged to, so they're not as useful as autosomal DNA tests like 23andMe, Ancestry, or My Heritage. Even autosomal DNA tests are just something that can be submitted as an added bonus, but aren't required or a substitute for historical records – your Sub-Saharan African percentage doesn't prove your ancestors were trafficked off the African continent as part of a slave trade.

But, here's where DNA can really be useful: if you have a gap in your records between you and a living relative, a kinship DNA test – like a paternity test – can help bridge that gap, proving you're related!

Yellow Fever vaccine is required for anyone 9 months and up – it's not valid, until 10 days after you get the vaccine!

For malaria prevention, Atovaquone-proguanil (Malarone) is commonly recommended over Mefloquine. Hepatitis A & B, Typhoid, Meningococcal ACWY, TDaP, and MMR are also worth discussing with a travel clinic.

Not entirely – support responses can vary a lot (sometimes even within the same email thread!) and can conflict with what the amended law actually says. The website isn't always kept up to date and, even when new info is added, there may still be some obsolete details that slip under the radar. So treat support guidance as a useful starting point, not a guarantee, and don't assume a discouraging answer is final.

Glossary

ANIP
Agence Nationale d'Identification des Personnes / National Agency of Identification of Persons — where you go to get your NPI, CIP, and CNIB.
NPI
Numéro Personnel d'Identification / Personal ID Number — the first thing you get at ANIP that opens the door to getting your other Beninese documents.
CIP-A
Certificat d'Identification Personnelle d'Afro-descendant / Afro-descendant Personal ID Certificate — can be used as ID within Benin and has your NPI on it.
CNIB
Carte Nationale d'Identité Biométrique / National Biometric ID Card — doubles as the ECOWAS ID card.
RNPP
Registre National des Personnes Physiques / National Registry of Physical Persons — the centralized biometric database ANIP manages.
DEI
Direction de l'Émigration et de l'Immigration / Office of Emigration and Immigration — where standard (non-expedited) passports are issued.
Reference

Sources Cited

Eligible Territories

  • MyAfroOrigins support

The Process

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