Seychellois nationality law is regulated by the Constitution of Seychelles, as amended; the Citizenship Act, and its revisions; and various international agreements to which the country is a signatory.

[10] Naturalisation can be granted to persons who have resided in the territory for a sufficient period of time to confirm they understand the customs and traditions of Seychelles and are integrated into the society.

General provisions are that applicants must pass a citizenship test with 80 per cent accuracy and that have no criminal convictions resulting in a sentence of one year or more.

[21] Persons who previously had nationality and renounced it for socio-economic reasons may repatriate after re-establishing residency and passing both the citizenship test with 80 percent accuracy and a background check confirming no imprisonments of more than one year.

[23][24] Arabic manuscripts written in the ninth and tenth centuries describe the Rukh Islands, which are believed to denote the Seychelles.

In 1756, Corneille Nicholas Morphey, under orders from the French East India Company claimed the islands on behalf of the company and the king, naming them the Îles de la Séchelles in honour of Viscount Jean Moreau de Séchelles, Comptroller of the Finance during the reign of Louis XV.

[31] In 1770, Henri Charles François Brayer du Barré organised fifty persons, including both black and white colonists, from the Île de Bourbon to establish the first settlement on Ste.

[31][34] Pierre Hanguard a Norman and former soldier of the French East India Company had obtained a land concession on Mahé around the same time as Gillot.

[31][35] The Ancien Régime of France developed a system of feudal allegiance in which subjects were bound together by a scheme of protection and service tied to land ownership.

[36] Possession of land was typically tied to military and court service and omitted women because they could not perform those obligations.

[44] The 1802 coup d'état of Napoleon Bonaparte rolled back gains made during the French Revolutionary period, re-establishing the law and customs in effect before the Revolution of 1789.

[53] In April 1811, Captain Philip Beaver arrived in Seychelles and claimed the islands for Britain as a prize of war.

[54] Seychelles was formally acquired by Britain in 1814 under the terms of the Treaty of Paris and was made a dependency of British Mauritius.

[58] Marriage did not affect the status of a subject of the realm, except that under common law, single women, including divorcées, were not allowed to be parents thus their children could not derive nationality maternally and were stateless unless legitimated by their father.

[62] 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.

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

[66] 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.

[69] 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.

[70] 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.

[74][16] Naturalisation could be obtained by persons who renounced other nationality, had continuous residence of at least five years, were knowledgeable in English or French, and intended to remain in Seychelles.

[83] Removal of jus soli provisions resulted in a 2020 Universal Periodic Review by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to note that there are no provisions for foundlings or stateless children born in the country to acquire nationality, which is required under the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child to which Seychelles is a signatory.

[3] It established rules for the conferment of nationality through birth, naturalisation, and registration, and detailed requirements for acquisition based upon persons with special circumstances.

[85] The amendment also expanded the reasons for deprivation of nationality to include acts of terrorism, drug trafficking, and piracy, among other serious offences.

[9] In September 2021, the proposed amendment to the Citizenship Act was approved by the Cabinet and submitted for review and a vote by the National Assembly.