adminKULIM: The Home Ministry (KDN) will announce the effective date of the amendment to the citizenship provision for children born abroad to Malaysian women, after all preparations related to its implementation are complete.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the preparations included the preparation of relevant documents, citizenship regulations and an online application system which also involved Malaysian representative offices around the world.
He said the effective date has been determined by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Home Ministry will announce it after several matters involving administrative matters are completed.
“At the ministry (KDN) level, all preparatory matters have been completed, including the preparation of documents and citizenship regulations. We have also obtained confirmation from the Attorney General’s Chambers.”
“Preparations also involve the preparation of an online application system because its implementation will involve Malaysian representative offices throughout the country,” he told reporters at the Sua Mesra Programme with the Home Affairs Minister at the Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail People’s Service Centre here today.
He said the implementation of the amendment was expected to provide great relief to Malaysian women or mothers who had been waiting for the citizenship process for their children born abroad.
Saifuddin Nasution said that of the approximately 50,000 outstanding citizenship applications that previously needed to be processed, around 7,000 were applications involving children born abroad to Malaysian mothers.
“Of the 7,000, there are now only hundreds left that we have not made a decision on because we are still processing old applications while waiting for this amendment to take effect,” he said.
He said that after the amendments come into effect and new applications are opened, the process for the category in question will be implemented according to the new provisions.
Meanwhile, Saifuddin Nasution said the Home Ministry was continuing to work to resolve the remaining 4,121 citizenship applications from the original 50,000 outstanding applications, with the target of all of them being decided this year.
He said the four main categories that recorded the highest number of applications were under Article 15A, Article 15(2), Article 19(1) and Article 30(1) of the Federal Constitution.
— BERNAMA
