The Nepal Citizenship (Second Amendment) Bill, which includes provisions such as granting citizenship to children through their mother's name, was unanimously passed by the National Assembly on Friday.
Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak presented a proposal to pass the Nepal Citizenship (Second Amendment) Bill, received with a message from the House of Representatives, along with the report of the National Assembly’s Committee for Legislation Management.
Home Minister Lekhak said that Parliament had made the bill advanced, practical, and transparent. He described it as a historic step and expressed gratitude to all who contributed to it.
The bill includes provisions to grant citizenship by descent to individuals born in Nepal to a Nepali citizen mother, residing in Nepal, whose father's identity cannot be established because the father is untraceable, the mother is unable to identify the father, or despite the father's name being mentioned in the birth certificate, educational certificate, or other documents, the father's identity cannot be verified.
Home Minister Lekhak further said that the bill provides for granting naturalized citizenship to individuals born abroad to a Nepali citizen mother, permanently residing in Nepal, who have not acquired foreign citizenship or passport and whose father's identity is unknown. Additionally, if an individual applies to exclude the name, surname, and address of either their mother or father from the citizenship certificate, the citizenship certificate issued to such an individual will not include the name, surname, or address of the parent they choose to omit, he added.
Similarly, Home Minister Lekhak said that the bill includes provisions to issue a minor identity card to a minor whose one parent is a Nepali citizen, to grant citizenship to the children of citizens who obtained citizenship by birth, and to provide naturalized citizenship to individuals whose one parent obtained Nepali citizenship by birth and the other parent passed away or went missing before obtaining Nepali citizenship.
