KATHMANDU, JULY 9

The government registered a new citizenship bill last night proposing to continue the provision that allows foreign women married to Nepali men to obtain matrimonial naturalisation immediately after they take steps to renounce the citizenship of their mother country.

In the old citizenship bill that the government withdrew yesterday, State Affairs and Good Governance Committee had inserted a provision requiring foreign women marrying Nepali men to wait for seven years before they could apply for naturalised citizenship. This provision had given rise to controversy.

Members of the House panel belonging to communist parties had supported the seven-year-waiting period, whereas members of the Nepali Congress and Madhes-based parties had opposed the proposal.

The new citizenship bill will also guarantee the rights of children of citizens by birth to obtain citizenship by descent. The bill stipulates that a child of a Nepali mother whose father is not traced, shall obtain Nepali citizenship by descent if he/she is permanently domiciled in Nepal. But if the father of the child is later found to be a foreign citizen, the child's citizenship of descent shall be cancelled and he/she shall obtain naturalised citizenship.

The bill stipulates that Non-resident Nepalis whose parents or grandparents were once citizens of Nepal and subsequently acquired citizenship of a foreign country other than any SAARC member countries, shall obtain NRN citizenship and they will enjoy economic, social and cultural rights.

A person born to a Nepali mother whose father remains untraced, shall obtain Nepali citizenship by descent, but the mother shall have to submit an affidavit. In case the mother has passed away, he/she shall have to submit an affidavit.

But if anybody submits false affidavit, he/she will face a jail term ranging from six months to one year and his/her citizenship will be invalidated.

Similarly, anybody who obtains NRN citizenship by submitting false details shall face imprisonment ranging from three months to one year.

Government ministers have said that the government will seek to pass the citizenship bill in the current budget session of the Parliament.

In the absence of new federal citizenship laws, lakhs of children of citizens by birth will not be able to obtain citizenship, and will not be able to enjoy their constitutional rights, including right to employment.

A version of this article appears in the print on July 10, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.