Adult children of Malaysian mothers, foreign fathers can apply citizenship on their own

Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail confirmed that adult children of Malaysian mothers and foreign fathers can apply for citizenship on their own under Article 19(1) of the Federal Constitution.

This is a special policy agreed upon since February 17 this year.

“Since the individuals are 21 years of age are adults, the citizenship application can be done by themselves. The individuals are required to fulfill three basic prerequisites:

a) the individual must be born abroad to a Malaysian mother who is married to a non-citizen husband.
b) the mother of the individual must have applied for the citizenship of her child and the application was rejected.
c) the individual concerned needs to be in Malaysia since the citizenship application can only be done in Malaysia.

“The third prerequisite is to ensure that the individual is a permanent resident of Malaysia,” said Saifuddin in his written reply to Yeo Bee Yin (PH-Puchong) in Dewan Rakyat.

Yeo had asked what was the Home Ministry doing to ensure children of Malaysian women aged 21 and above are not denied the chance of applying for citizenship.