Home minister to decide on pending citizenship cases within one year

PARLIAMENT | All pending citizenship applications will be decided by Oct 17, next year at the latest.

Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said this is to ensure that there are no more outstanding applications that had been pending for years.

“The Home Ministry’s commitment is Oct 17 next year, we will make a decision on all pending applications. We will open a new book,” he said when winding up debates on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2024.

Commenting further, Saifuddin said the ministry has processed more than 19,300 applications this year, surpassing the initial target of 17,000.

“Until yesterday, I have approved 19,317 applications, and if we include last year’s total, that makes 32,153 decisions (citizenship applications) made,” he said.

According to Saifuddin, 80 percent of the approvals are for cases pending for more than five years.

New SOPs

Additionally, said that standard operating procedures (SOP) for handling complex cases such as illegitimate children and adopted children were also implemented.

“We have now finalised the SOP for applications under Articles 15A and 19(1) (of the Federal Constitution), which involve citizenship through registration and naturalisation.

“This SOP will ensure that the process is transparent and applicants are informed in advance about the required documents,” he said.

Saifuddin added the SOP will reduce waiting time for applicants who can also ensure all the requirements are met.

“With the new SOP, applicants will know earlier if their documents are incomplete, reducing the risk of rejection after a long wait,” he added.

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