Home Ministry to announce effective date for citizenship amendments once ready

Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the preparations included the relevant documentation, citizenship regulations and an online application system, which would also involve Malaysian representative offices worldwide. — Bernama pic

First Published: Saturday, 12 Sep 2026 8:06 PM MYT

KULIM, Sept 12 — The Home Ministry (KDN) will announce the effective date of amendments to citizenship provisions for children born overseas to Malaysian women once all preparations for their implementation have been completed.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the preparations included the relevant documentation, citizenship regulations and an online application system, which would also involve Malaysian representative offices worldwide.

He said the effective date had been determined by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and KDN would announce it once several administrative matters had been finalised.

“At the ministry level (KDN), all preparations have been completed, including the relevant documents and citizenship regulations. We have also obtained confirmation from the Attorney General’s Chambers.

“The preparations also involve setting up the online application system as its implementation will involve Malaysian representative offices around the world,” he told reporters at a meet-and-greet event at his service centre here today.

He said the implementation of the amendments was expected to provide significant relief to Malaysian women or mothers who had been waiting for the citizenship process for their children born overseas.

He said that out of approximately 50,000 outstanding citizenship applications that previously needed to be processed, about 7,000 involved children born overseas to Malaysian mothers.

“Of the 7,000, only hundreds remain undecided as we are still processing the old applications while waiting for the amendments to come into force,” he said.

He said once the amendments came into force and new applications were opened, applications under the category would be processed in accordance with the new provisions.

Meanwhile, Saifuddin Nasution said KDN is continuing efforts to resolve the remaining 4,121 citizenship applications out of the original 50,000 outstanding applications, with a target of deciding on all of them this year.

He said the four main categories with the highest number of applications were under Article 15A, Article 15(2), Article 19(1) and Article 30(1) of the Federal Constitution. — Bernama