Nepal parliament introduces changes to citizenship law

A Nepalese legislative commission recently introduced an amendment to Nepal's Citizenship Act. Under the change, a foreign woman who marries a Nepali citizen would have to wait seven years to acquire naturalized nationality.

The ruling Secretariat of the Communist Party of Nepal (NCP) decided to make foreign women married to Nepali men eligible for naturalized citizenship only after seven years on the basis of marital relations.

An amendment to the country's Citizenship Act was suggested by a legislative commission in Nepal. The amendment would require that a foreign woman married to a Nepali national await naturalized citizenship for 7 years.

Opposition parties said that it is uncomfortable for people living in Madhes, where cross-border marriage is common.

Nepal's main opposition parties opposed the proposal, claiming it would inconvenience people living in Madhes where cross-border marriages are prevailing quite widely. The parties- Nepali Congress (NC) and Janata Samajbadi Party (SJP) also argued that such a provision would have a bad impact on the age-old ‘bread and bride relations’ (Roti-Beti) between Nepal and India.

The Madheshi are the inhabitants of the Terai region in southern Nepal, on the Himalayan foothill at Bihar's border with India.

Key Highlights

• It includes seven rights that a foreign woman married to a Nepali national can exercise till she acquires citizenship certificates.
• The amendment bill proposes changes to Clause 4.1(b) of the Citizenship Act, which paves the way for women who are granted residence permits to exercise economic , social and cultural rights and grant seven different economic , social and cultural rights to such women.
• It will now be presented for endorsement to the full House of Parliament.
• it will impact 'bread and bride relations' (Roti-Beti) between Nepal and India. 

Conditions for Women without Citizenship

• Failure to obtain a citizenship certificate will not prevent them from running any business and from earning, using and selling any fixed and mobile assets, making profits through business and engaging in any kind of property transaction.
• Such a woman may also set up companies, operate businesses as well as other activities, record crucial events such as birth , death, marriage , divorce and relocation, and offer facilities, rights and discounts offered by every law-based agency. 
• She would also be eligible to study at any accredited institution, obtain academic qualifications and exercise physical , social and cultural rights and obtain national identification cards as per the proposed amendment.

Condition for a foreign Man married to Nepali Woman

Actually a foreign man married to a woman from Nepal will wait for citizenship for 14 years. Woman organisations have requested fair rights in legislation, said The Kathmandu Post. The main opposition groups, the NC and the JSP, wrote protest notes against the reform bill.