Gota to head panel on dual citizenship
View(s):By Bandula Sirimanna
A new, more rigorous scheme to permit dual citizenship in Sri Lanka will involve a powerful panel headed by Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Senior government officials said pre-screening to check the eligibility of a person applying for dual citizenship would involve a one-to-one interview with this panel which would include the Secretaries to the Ministries of External Affairs and Public Administration.
Earlier last year, Sri Lanka suspended processing dual citizenship applications in order to outline the new conditions. The scheme was introduced in 1987.
On Wednesday, Mr Rajapaksa told a meeting on Wednesday that new dual citizenship laws would be soon enacted with new conditions. A pre-screening procedure will be in place to check if a person applying for dual citizenship has the eligibility and the necessary requirements for this purpose.
The Legal Draftsman’s department has already finalized the draft bill to amend existing laws pertaining to citizenship and to formalise the granting of dual citizenship under the ‘Overseas Sri Lankans Scheme’, Mr. Rajapaksa said addressing a seminar ‘On Future Outlook for Urban Infrastructure Development in Sri Lanka” in Colombo.
He said under the proposed law, a Sri Lankan expatriate possessing a passport of another country will initially be given permanent residency for five years after which he or she will become eligible to receive dual citizenship status. Details on how they received a foreign citizenship have to be submitted to authorities by every applicant along with the reason for seeking dual citizenship in Sri Lanka, he revealed.
The Immigration and Emigration Department will soon begin processing dual citizenship applications from the expatriate Sri Lankans.Some 2,000 applications for dual citizenship are awaiting approval while 4000 have already been offered the facility.
There are only 10 countries in the world that allow dual citizenship. But no Asian country allows dual citizenship, a senior official of the Finance Ministry said.
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