The government has decided to formulate a new citizenship law to keep pace with the complex world of immigration.
According to Home Ministry officials, the proposed law will allow dual citizenship but restrict the number of citizenships awarded to those born in Bangladesh to non-Bangladeshi parents.
A ministry official said: “We have amended the 65-year old Citizenship Act of 1951 to help future citizens in the complex immigration world.”
The draft Bangladesh Citizenship Act 2015 is likely to be placed at the week meeting of the cabinet for final endorsement, the official said.
Currently, two more laws deal with citizen issues in Bangladesh: the Bangladesh Citizenship (Temporary Provisions) Order 1972 and the Foreigners Act 1946.
If the new law is eventually passed in parliament, it will repeal the 1951 and 1972 laws.
Under the existing laws, an adult and able citizen of Bangladesh can give up his or her citizenship.
But the draft law proposes that a Bangladeshi citizen can also be a citizen of any other country – except for the Saarc counties and Myanmar – as long as he has not given up his loyalty to Bangladesh while taking oath as the citizen of that country.
Regarding citizenship by birth, the new law proposes that a person, born in Bangladesh, can only get citizenship by birth, if both of his or her parents are Bangladeshi nationals.
Moreover, a person will have citizenship cancelled if he or she stays outside Bangladesh for more than 10 years at a stretch since the day of getting the citizenship.
