Amendment bill’s citizenship provision for foreign woman marrying Nepali similar to 1990 constitution

Sujit Mainali / March 14, 2017

Nepali Congress leader Bimalendra Nidhi.                                                                     Photo: Youtube/KantipurTV

Home Minister and Nepali Congress leader Bimalendra Nidhi speaking on a Mountain TV program aired on March 10 said the following about the amendment bill registered by the government in parliament:

“The citizenship provision in the amendment bill is exactly the same as it was in the 1990 constitution, UML leaders Bharat Mohan Adhikari and Madhav Kumar Nepal themselves were [among] the framers of the 1990 constitution.”

South Asia Check has examined the statement.

Point number 4 of the amendment bill proposes to replace Clause 6 of Article 11 of the Constitution of Nepal, 2015.

Article 11(6) of the constitution states that “a foreign woman who has a matrimonial relationship with a citizen of Nepal may, if she so wishes, acquire the naturalized citizenship of Nepal as provided for in the Federal law.”

The amendment bill proposes replacing this provision with the following phrase: “A foreign woman who has a matrimonial relationship with a citizenship of Nepal may, if she so wishes, acquire the naturalized citizenship of Nepal as provided for in the Federal Law after she begins the process to renounce the citizenship of her country.”

South Asia Check has examined whether similar provision was mentioned in the Constitution of Kingdom of Nepal, 1990 or not.

Article 9 (5) of the Constitution of Kingdom of Nepal had provision to award citizenship to a foreign woman having matrimonial relationship with a citizen of Nepal.

“Foreign woman having matrimonial relationship with a citizen of Nepal will get citizenship after she begins the process to give up citizenship of her country,” the Article 9 (5) stated.

Both the amendment bill and the Constitution of Kingdom of Nepal state that a foreign woman having matrimonial relationship with a citizen of Nepal will get citizen after she begin process to give up the citizenship of her country.

So, home minister Nidhi correctly said that the citizenship provision in the amendment bill is exactly the same as it was in the 1990 constitution.

Meanwhile, the citizenship provision in Article 8 (6) in the Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2007 stated that “a woman of foreign nationality who has a matrimonial relationship with a citizen of Nepal may, if she so wishes, acquire the naturalized citizenship of Nepal, pursuant to the laws in force.” This provision is similar to the one mentioned in the current constitution.

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