Applying for Dual Citizenship in Sri Lanka - what the instructions don't say!

I applied for dual citizenship this morning and was able to complete the process in less than 45 mins. However this is due to advise given by several friends who applied before me and found out that the instructions on the form were far from complete (thanks guys!). Of course this is to be expected and is what I ranted about in a previous post about dealing with govt. departments. Make sure you have the following available when you go in to lodge your application. Note that my experience is from lodging the application at the department of immigration in Colombo. Process and requirements at consulates around the world may be different so please feel free to comment on this post if you have any information you can share.

1. The form says you need to submit certified copies or originals of your documents (birth certificate etc). What they really means is that you need to submit the original with a photocopy and they will certify it at that point (the asst. controller does this). If you don't have originals they will make a fuss and you may be turned back. You don't need to provide certified copies of anything. Originals are given back soon after certifying.

2. All photocopies need to be on A4 size paper. Other sizes are not accepted as it doesn't fit in the file! Take photo copies of everything you can think of!

3. Even for the "resumption" category they ask for the Sri Lankan passport (even if it's not valid anymore). You need a copy of the details page along with the passport itself.

4. You need photo copies of all entry visas to Sri Lanka (on your foreign passport).

5. Everyone over 18 years needs a police certificate. When I asked them 3 weeks ago they said I need to get it from UK even though I have been in Sri Lanka for more than a year now. But today they said if the applicant has been in Sri Lanka for more than 6 months then a police report from Sri Lanka will be accepted! There goes (£45 x2) down the drain!

Get there early - we were in by 7.30am and got appointment number 1. Depending on the number you get you may need to spend 1.5-2 hours as it's only one person at the counter for collecting the docs.

The process is supposed to take between 1-3 months (they have not been consistent with this communication). However you get a nice acknowledgement letter with a reference number etc stating that they are "honored" to accept your application. I also overheard one of the officials telling someone on the phone that there will be a periodic citizenship ceremony at BMICH to award citizenship...!

Dual citizenship is back!

After more than 4 years the Dual Citizenship page on the Immigration.lk website has been updated! The process to obtain dual citizenship seems pretty much the same as it was previously. So is the cost - Rs 250,000 for main applicant and Rs 50K each for a dependent.

http://www.immigration.gov.lk/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=299&Itemid=214&lang=en

There will definitely be delays in the process due to the huge backlog but better start early before the scheme is lifted again!

Dual Citizenship or Residency Visa

The Government of Sri Lanka stopped issuing dual citizenship to people in February 2011. Various reasons were cited at the time and a new process similar to what is available in India was to be announced. Fours years on there is still no proper verdict around this. At various stages there were announcements by the government that dual citizenship will be available again within a few months and there were battles within government departments (legal draftsman and immigration commissioner) around how and what should be done before the bill was passed in parliament. Just before the presidential election in January 2015 there was an announcement from the government saying dual citizenship has been reopened for application but I know of people who called the embassy only to find out that they were not even aware of it. Another friend called the immigration department in Sri Lanka and they said that the forms were not ready yet. After the government changed early this year there was a new announcement saying dual citizenship is now available at a cost of Rs.500,000 per application! (http://www.dailymirror.lk/62519/dual-citizenship-potentially-available-to-all-lankans). However there still doesn't seem to be any defined process in place to make this happen. 500K per application is rather absurd...if I understood that correctly that would be Rs 2M for a family of 4!! Not worth at all in my opinion...it doesn't even cost that much to obtain British citizenship! And it is not fair charging so much from ex-Sri Lankans who want to come back to their motherland.

This fiasco around Dual Citizenship has discouraged a lot of people from returning back to Sri Lanka. There are people abroad who are killing time until Dual Citizenship is available so that they can then get their foreign citizenship and return home without any implications to their status in Sri Lanka as there are fears about property and concerns around not being able to purchase new property once they return back. There are others who have lost Sri Lankan citizenship who are not willing to come back until they get dual citizenship as they will feel insecure otherwise. It is fare to put a process in place where the intent to return is validated before issuing dual citizenship but dragging it on for years is not good and demonstrates indecisiveness and inefficiency on part of the government.

However, for those who really want to come back and are thinking about immigration issues there are several visa options that can be considered. If you are lucky enough to get a Sri Lankan company to sponsor you to work for them then it is most likely that they will get a work visa approved for you. That it self is a long process which requires approval from Ministry of Defense, BOI etc but most reputed companies are now geared up to do that. If you get a work visa sorted out it is valid for 1 year and your company will have to renew it at the end of that period. If you are not planning to come here on work, then there is a residence visa scheme where, especially if you are an ex-Sri Lankan, you can apply and obtain a visa that is valid for 1 year and can be renewed. This costs around Rs. 10,000 per year. There is more information about all visas and the process at http://www.immigration.gov.lk/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=153&Itemid=198&lang=en .

My advise to people abroad who are thinking about getting citizenship in your country of residence or thinking of coming back but have lost citizenship in Sri Lanka is to not dwell about Dual Citizenship but to consider one of these short term visa options if and when you want to come back. There are some implications of not having citizenship here like not being able to purchase land (unless you pay loads of taxes), not being able to vote etc. According to existing laws any property that you owned before loosing citizenship can remain yours (best to validate with a lawyer but this is what I have heard). So there are ways to get over the immigration issues if you really want to come back...don't wait for the dual citizenship process to be reinstated.