[3][8] Those who acquire nationality at birth include: Naturalisation can be granted to persons who have resided in the territory for a sufficient period of time to confirm they understand either English or siSwati, as well as are accepted as a Liswati by the customs and traditions of the society.

[16] Under traditional law and customary practice in Eswatini, foreigners and their wives who are accepted into a chiefdom are granted a piece of land on which they can build and farm.

This system, known as khonta allows the person to receive a certificate of acceptance by a specific chief to his territory as authorized by the King.

[8] Since passage of the 1992 Citizenship Act, attaining a certificate of khonta automatically grants nationality without the requirement for registration or formal naturalisation.

[29][30] During the Mfecane era, conflict with the Zulu Kingdom pushed Ngwane's subjects northward to the Mdzimba Mountains in the center of what would become Swaziland.

[34] To further centralise control, royal wives and princes were sent to govern in the provinces and were served by royally-appointed administrators, replacing the traditional chiefs.

[36][37] A disputed succession after the death of Mswati II in 1865, led to an internal struggle and a scramble from external powers to gain influence in the nation.

[36] In the 1870s, conflict with the Zulu reemerged, as did hostilities with the Pedi people, and another succession crisis in 1874 with the suspicious death of King Ludvonga.

[39] These factors, combined with the destabilising invasion of miners, led the British to annex the Transvaal, which included the Swazi territory, in 1877.

[42] At the conclusion of conflict, the Pretoria Convention of 1881, recognised the independence of the Transvaal[43] and the British formally established a protectorate over Swaziland.

[45][46] When Britain extended this status over a territory, it took responsibility for both internal and external administration, including defense and foreign relations.

[50] In 1967, Swaziland's status was changed from a protectorate to a protected state, granting Swazis internal self-government under a constitution.

[52] The uniform law, which went into effect on 1 January 1915, required a married woman to derive her nationality from her spouse, meaning if he was British, she was also, and if he was foreign, so was she.

[55] The statute reiterated common law provisions for natural-born persons born within the realm on or after the effective date.

[56] For those born abroad on or after the effective date, legitimacy was still required, and could only be derived by a child from a British father (one generation), who was natural-born or naturalised.

[59] Because of a rise in statelessness, a woman who did not automatically acquire her husband's nationality upon marriage or upon his naturalisation in another country, did not lose their British status after 1933.

[60] The 1943 revision allowed a child born abroad at any time to be a British national by descent if the Secretary of State agreed to register the birth.

[63][64] Until 1934, when the British Protected Persons Order was drafted, the status of BPP was not statutory, but rather granted at the prerogative of the monarch.

[78][79] Sobhuza issued a royal decree (Citizenships Order 1974) with an effective date of 12 April 1973 which provided that persons who became nationals at independence could only retain that status if their father was a Swazi national at the time of their birth and if born abroad, the father had at the time of the child's birth a permanent domicile in Swaziland.

[83] The order maintained provisions for wives, children whose parents had died, and persons with khonta'd to register as nationals.

[78][86] When King Sobhuza II died, his successor Mswati III's first royal decree when he assumed office in 1987 was to confirm his absolute authority.

[93] Though the government answered a 2013 Universal Periodic Review with regard to the discrepancy that its approach allows women to exercise their rights in a manner consistent with Swazi law and custom, the reviewers noted that the constitution does not allow women equal pathways for their children or foreign spouse to derive their nationality.

[94] Sections 43, 46, 48 of the 2005 Constitution, by providing nationality solely paternally establish discriminatory principles and contradict Article 20 of the same instrument, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of age, birth, colour, creed or religion, disability, ethnic origin or race, gender, political allegiance, or socio-economic class.

[95] In 2021, the government was in the process of reviewing the nationality law and had made commitments to human rights organisations which monitor international agreements that changes would be forthcoming by 2024.