Parliamentary committee passes citizenship bill

KATHMANDU, June 21: The State Affairs Committee (SAC) of the federal parliament on Sunday passed a citizenship certificate bill with the provision of seven-year in waiting for naturalization of a foreign woman marrying to a Nepali man.

The bill was in limbo in the parliament for long as the political parties failed to reach a conclusion over the provision to provide citizenship to the foreign born lady coming to Nepal after marrying to a Nepali boy.

After a long debate among the political parties, central secretariat meeting of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) had decided to pass the bill with the seven-year waiting period to reactive a citizenship certificate to a foreign woman marrying to a Nepali man. However, major opposition Nepali Congress and Tarai-centric parties objected the provision. RSS