Citizenship for overseas-born children in final stages

 The date for the law to come into force has been decided by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, says home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

Home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the preparations included an online application system and the involvement of Malaysian diplomatic offices abroad. (Facebook pic)

KULIM:

Citizenship provisions for children born overseas to Malaysian women are in the final stages of preparation for implementation, home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said today.

The preparations included citizenship regulations and an online application system, as well as the involvement of Malaysian diplomatic offices abroad.

He said the date for the citizenship amendments to come into force had been determined by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and would be announced once administrative matters had been finalised.

“At the ministry level, all preparations have been completed, including the relevant documents and citizenship regulations. We have also obtained confirmation from the Attorney-General’s Chambers. The preparations also involve setting up the online application system as its implementation will involve Malaysian representative offices around the world,” he told reporters here today.

He said the implementation of the amendments was expected to provide significant relief to Malaysian women or mothers who had been waiting for the citizenship process for their children born overseas.

He said about 7,000 citizenship applications involved children born overseas to Malaysian mothers, of which “only hundreds remain undecided as we are still processing the old applications while waiting for the amendments to come into force,” he said.

Saifuddin said the ministry is continuing efforts to resolve 4,121 outstanding citizenship applications, with a target of deciding on all of them this year. - FMT