New dual Citizenship will remove all loopholes - Controller General of Immigration and Emigration

By Anuradha KODAGODA

The Sri Lankan government has stopped issuing dual citizenship as a temporary measure since January 28.

According to Immigration and Emigration statistics there are more than one million expatriate Sri Lankans, of which 100,000 are professionals; and there are nearly one million people from the Tamil diaspora. In addition, every year approximately 7,000 Sri Lankan students go abroad for higher education and many of them opt to stay on after obtaining their degrees.

Even though the temporary termination of issuing dual citizenships has not affected the citizenship status of those who have already obtained dual citizenship, when considering the above given statistics it is questionable that the temporary ban on dual citizenship may create disadvantages especially for the country's economy.

Talking to the Sunday Observer, Controller General of Immigration and Emigration W.A.C. Perera said, "The main reason for the temporary termination of issuing dual citizenship was that due to the loopholes we noticed on the existing system. When implementing the system there were many anticipated advantages from the dual citizenship holders. However, on closer scrutiny it seems that as a country we could not meet expected benefits or advantages from the dual citizenship holders and the purpose was lost."

Means of dual citizenship

An individual who has citizenship in both Sri Lanka and a foreign country is considered a dual citizen of Sri Lanka. If a Sri Lankan obtained a citizenship in another country, according to the Immigration act of Sri Lanka, that person's citizenship in Sri Lanka would be terminated automatically. However since that person is an ex-Sri Lankan, there were procedures for them to request a citizenship in Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan Immigration Act was introduced in 1938 but the dual citizenship was not granted from that act. Later, even though the Sri Lankan citizenship act was implemented in 1956, until 1987 the dual citizenship was not granted in the country.

The main reason for not granting dual citizenship before '87 was that there was not sufficient demand for dual citizenship before, when compared to the current scenario.

However, so far we have granted 33,065 dual citizenships and according to the statistics the majority of Sri Lankan dual citizenship holders live in Australia, which is 11,753. The other main countries are Canada, UK, USA, Italy, France, Switzerland, Sweden and New Zealand.

Nature of Dual citizenship

The nature of granting dual citizenship was divided into four main categories worldwide. Some countries granted dual citizenship without any conditions and 51 countries fall into that category.

There are another 74 countries which do not grant dual citizenship under any circumstances and also 35 countries which say no to the dual citizenship, but under several conditions they may grant the dual citizenship.

Sri Lanka was placed into that category before the termination. Other than that, there are 15 countries who say 'yes' for the dual citizenship but it is again under a few conditions. They can terminate the same at any given time under its conditions.

Those who enjoy the dual citizenship are entitled for the voting rights in both countries and also are treated as permanent citizens in both countries eligible for all the benefits and social welfare provided by those countries.

Previous criteria

Until the recent government directive, dual citizenship was granted under five main categories, that is, Professional category - We consider the applicant's professional importance and grant the citizenship, Wealth category - if the applicant has property in Sri Lanka worth over Rs. 2,500,000 also we may grant the dual citizenship, Fixed Deposit category - if the applicant has US $25,000 in fix deposits which cannot be withdrawn for five years also may be granted the dual citizenship in the country, Senior Citizen category - that means those above 55 years and who was an ex-Sri Lankan and the category of Non-Resident Foreign Currency (NRFC), Resident Foreign Currency (RFC) or Special Foreign Investment Deposit Accounts holders of ex-Sri Lankans also may apply for the dual citizenship in Sri Lanka.

If any ex-Sri Lankan who may fall into any category mentioned above may apply for the dual citizenship in Sri Lanka before that was terminated in last year. To grant the dual citizenships there was a committee consisting of five members.

According to the requirement, the committee meets and if the committee decides to grant the citizenship after going through all the required procedure, the committee gets the support from state intelligence to make sure each person has not violated any rules and regulations of the state when they were ex-Sri Lankans.

Finally, there was a payment to be made by the applicant which was for the main applicant.

It was Rs. 2,l00,000 and if there're other members of the family it charged only Rs. 50,000 per person.

Once this was approved by the Ministry of Defence and President's Secretary the process would be completed.

That was the procedure in terms of dual citizenship before it was terminated in January 28, 2011. However, when grating dual citizenships earlier, we have considered mainly the advantages that we may gain to the country by granting them that facility.

Most of them are the beneficiaries of free education in the country and when they get foreign job opportunities it would be favourable for the country's economy because it is a reason to pump foreign currency into the country's coffers.

Also, that would be even a slight release in terms of unemployment in the country as well. Other than that, to have Sri Lankan diaspora all over the world also would be an advantage to the country.

However, it is a serious question whether those who are enjoying the benefits of dual citizenship in Sri Lanka could give back the expected benefits to the country.

For example, by those who got the dual citizenship under the category of profession, there's no clear impact to the society or it is questionable when considering what returns the country receives. Also, it is a similar scenario with the people who come to invest in Sri Lanka.

It is questionable whether they have truly done anything for the betterment of the country's economy.

The visible reality is that many have (mis)used dual citizenship in a narrowed manner.

For example, most of them wanted to enjoy the duty free facility as a citizen in Sri Lanka; also to get rid of the various taxes that they may have to face as a foreigner and to enjoy many other benefits which they may not get as a tourist.

On the other hand, there may be shortcomings on the part of the authorities too. Therefore, we think the system should be further streamlined in a more transparent manner, and the immigration department suggested to the government to terminate the existing dual citizenship process temporarily, to implement a new system which would be more meaningful and advantageous to the country as well as to the holders.

Especially the recent incident with regard to Premakumar Gunaratnam who appeared in two different names in Australia and Sri Lanka, shows the danger of not maintaining strict regulations for dual citizenships in the country. According to the information given by the Australian high commission, Gunaratnam has applied the citizenship in Australia under the name Noel Mudalige.

In Australia there is a program called naturalisation where under that program legally they can represent themselves in two different names. However, he has not held dual citizenship in Sri Lanka under any of these names. Therefore, this type of situation also proves that we have not thoroughly considered these type of threats that can occur due to the loosening the immigration laws.

I must say there're no hidden agendas but it is a completely transparent system that we are going to implement in the near future.

New implementation

We have sent the cabinet paper to get the approvals of the relevant authorities. Within the next couple of months we may able to implement this new system.

There are a few proposals that we have suggested to the government and we hope they may confirm the most suitable and advantageous proposal to implement as the new system.

Those who are entitled to dual citizenship so far may not be entitled to the current termination of the dual citizenship. They still can enjoy the rights of the dual citizenship they have according to the earlier regulations.