Bangladeshi Citizenship
The laws governing the provisions of acquiring Bangladeshi Citizenship is in The
Bangladesh Citizenship Act 1951.
Section 3 of the Bangladesh Citizenship Act describes the requirements for being
recognized as a citizen at the commencement of the Act (1972).
“3. At the commencement of this Act every person shall be deemed to be a citizen of
Bangladesh-
(a) who or any of whose parents or grandparents was born in the territory now included
in Bangladesh and who after the fourteenth day of August, 1947, has not been
permanently resident in any country outside Bangladesh; or
(b) who or any of whose parents or grandparents was born in the territories included in
India on the thirty-first day of March, 1937, and who, except in the case of a person who
was in the service of Bangladesh or of any Government or Administration in Bangladesh at
the commencement of this Act, has or had his domicile within the meaning of Part II of
the Succession Act, 1925, as in force at the commencement of this Act, in Bangladesh or in
the territories now included in Bangladesh; or
(c) who is a person naturalised as a British subject in Bangladesh; and who, if before the
date of the commencement of this Act he has acquired the citizenship of any foreign State,
has before that date renounced the same by depositing a declaration in writing to that
effect with an authority appointed or empowered to receive it; or
(d) who before the commencement of this Act migrated to the territories now included in
Bangladesh from any territory in the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent outside those territories
with the intension of residing permanently in those territories.”
In simple terms:
A person is considered to be a Bangladeshi citizen if that person, or their parent or
grandparent, was born in what is now Bangladesh and after 14 August, 1947, they have
not lived permanently in another country.
The person, or their parent or grandparent was born in India as of 31 March 1937 and
they have their permanent home in Bangladesh now, unless they were a government
employee of Bangladesh where home is not required.
The person was naturalised as a British subject in Bangladesh and if they had foreign
citizenship before this Act, they renounced it in writing.
The person moved to what is now Bangladesh from another part of the Indian
subcontinent before the Act began, intending to live permanently in Bangladesh.
Citizenship by birth: (Section 4):
Every person born in Bangladesh shall be a citizen of Bangladesh by birth, except if :
The father is a foreign diplomat with legal immunity and not a Bangladeshi
citizen, or
The father is an enemy alien and the child is born in enemy-occupied territory.
Citizenship by descent: (Section 5):
Anyone born is a Bangladeshi citizen by descent if their father or mother is a
Bangladeshi citizen at the time of birth.
However, if the parent is a citizen by descent only, the child will get citizenship only if:
The birth abroad is registered at a Bangladesh Consulate/Mission, or
The parent is working for the Bangladesh Government at the time of birth.
Citizenship by naturalisation: (Section 9):
A person who has a naturalisation certificate under The Naturalisation Act, 1926 can
apply to the Government to be registered as a Bangladeshi citizen.
The Government also has the power to grant Bangladeshi citizenship by naturalisation
even if the person does not have such a certificate.
Any person registered as a citizen of Bangladesh shall be such a citizen from the date of
his registration, (Section 12).
According to the Bangladesh Citizenship (Temporary Provisions) Order, 1972,
Section 2: Anyone who, or whose father or grandfather, was born in what is now
Bangladesh and was a permanent resident there on 25 March 1971 and continues to live
there
Anyone who was a permanent resident of Bangladesh on 25 March 1971 and continues
to live there, unless disqualified under law.
Section 2B: A person does not qualify as a Bangladeshi citizen if they:
Pledge or show allegiance to a foreign state, or
Are specifically excluded under the Article 2A notification.
Provided that a citizen of Bangladesh shall not, merely by reason of being a citizen or
acquiring citizenship of any state specified in or under clause (2), cease to be citizen.
(2) The Government may grant citizenship of Bangladesh to any person who is a citizen
of any state of Europe or North America or of any other state which the Government
may, by notification in the official Gazette, specify in this behalf.
Therefore, the son can apply for dual citizenship although the Citizenship Act, 1951
explicitly disallows it. It states that if someone is a citizen of Bangladesh and another
country at the same time, they will loose Bangladeshi Citizenship unless they renounce
the other country’s citizenship as required by that country’s law. This rule does not
apply to anyone under the age of 21. Also, to persons who are citizens of an Acceding
State (a state that has a special agreement with Bangladesh), (Section 14).
The Government may, upon an application made to it in this behalf in the manner
prescribed, grant citizenship to any person, (Section 4).
Section 5 of the Bangladesh Citizenship Act, 1951, which deals with citizenship by
descent:
“5. Subject to the provisions of section 3 a person born after the commencement of this Act,
shall be a citizen of Bangladesh by descent if his 2[father or mother] is a citizen of
Bangladesh at the time of his birth:
Provided that if the 3[father or mother] of such person is a citizen of Bangladesh by
descent only, that person shall not be a citizen of Bangladesh by virtue of this section
unless-
(a) that person's birth having occurred in a country outside Bangladesh the birth is
registered at a Bangladesh Consulate or Mission in that country, or where there is no
Bangladesh Consulate or Mission in that country at the prescribed Consulate or Mission or
at a Bangladesh Consulate or Mission in the country nearest to that country; or
(b) that person's 4[father or mother] is, at the time of the birth, in the service of any
Government in Bangladesh.”
Therefore, a person born after 1951, who is a citizen of Bangladesh if either father or
mother is a Bangladeshi citizen at the time of the person's birth.
If the father or mother is a citizen by descent (not by birth), then the child will only be a
Bangladeshi citizen if:
o (a) The birth is registered at a Bangladesh Consulate/Mission in the
country of birth (or nearest country if no mission exists), or
o (b) The father or mother was in the service of the Bangladesh
Government at the time of birth.
Note: If the father is a Bangladeshi citizen by birth, the son automatically qualifies as a
Bangladeshi citizen by descent. If the father is a Bangladeshi citizen by descent only,
then the son's birth in Belgium must be registered at a Bangladesh Consulate/Mission in
Belgium (or nearest country) to acquire citizenship. registration at a Bangladesh
Consulate is mandatory only if the parent is a citizen by descent. If the father is a citizen
by birth, the child acquires citizenship automatically regardless of place of birth.
