Home Minister announces citizenship rule changes for children born abroad, targeting June-July rollout
PUTRAJAYA: The long-delayed citizenship reforms affecting children born overseas are expected to take effect by June or July this year, following the completion of regulatory amendments and final procedural steps, said Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
Saifuddin said the implementation timeline comes following Parliament’s approval of constitutional amendments, with subsequent changes required to the Citizenship Regulations 1964 in both Malay and English.
“If all these milestones proceed as planned, we are targeting implementation around June or July.
“This will allow births overseas, in these cases, to automatically confer citizenship status on children by operation of law,” Saifuddin told reporters after the launch of Home Minister’s 2026 address, today.
He said the amended regulations had been vetted by the Attorney-General’s Chambers and would proceed to gazettement after royal assent.
Saifuddin described the move as an achievement by the Madani government that is grounded in compassion and justice, particularly for Malaysian mothers who have long faced citizenship-related difficulties for their children.
He stressed that preparations for the reforms had not delayed existing citizenship decisions, noting that approvals continued under existing constitutional provisions.
“As of yesterday, I am still continuing to make decisions on citizenship applications under Article 15A, Article 30A and Article 19A,” he said.
Saifuddin said he had exceeded his KPI of resolving 20,000 citizenship applications in 2025, with 20,032 decisions made so far.
“When I first came in, there were nearly 50,000 pending applications. Now, the remaining backlog is less than 4,000,” he said.
He expressed confidence that long-outstanding cases – some pending for up to 15 years – could be resolved by the first quarter of this year.
