COLOMBO: Persons of Sri Lanka descent, including those who have renounced their citizenship, and foreign spouses would be able to get permanent residence status, under regulations gazetted by the Ministry of Public Security., according to a report published by Economy Next.
A person of Sri Lankan descent or “whose citizenship of sri Lanka has ceased under sections 19, 20 or 21 of the Citizenship Act” as well as a foreign spouse would be eligible to apply after six months of marriage under the new regulations.
However, if the marriage is dissolved before 5 years, the PR status would automatically cease.
A person of Sri Lanka descent is someone whose parents, grand parents or great grand parents were born in or are still citizens of the island.
A fee of 1,000 dollars would be charged. Children would also be allowed PR status at 400 dollars.
Ex-Sri Lankans earlier had to apply for dual citizenship, which was not allowed by some countries.
However permanent resident status is provided by many countries.
Sri Lanka’s PR status allows persons to work, run businesses, buy or inherit property.
There are large numbers of Sri Lankans who have obtained citizenship in foreign countries who have not applied for dual citizenship.
Sri Lanka also does not have a naturalization path unlike Western nations which leads to them exiting whatever assets they have in this country and investing it in the new countries.
A controversy has also arisen at the moment with legislators losing their parliamentary seats due to being foreign citizens
Download Permanant Residence 2383-17-sri-lanka-permanent-residence-visa-regulations-EN.
© Economy Next
