GEORGE TOWN: The Penang National Registration Department (NRD) received 17,113 citizenship applications from January 2021 to October this year.
State Social Development, Welfare, and Non-Islamic Religious Affairs Committee chairman Lim Siew Khim said a total of 188 applications have been approved, 864 applications were rejected, and 16,061 other applications are being processed.
“Of the 188 applications that were approved, it is learned that 40 applications were from Indonesian nationals, India (16), Philippines (5) and the rest from several other countries.
“In addition, the mandatory eligibility requirements for foreign nationals to apply for citizenship is divided into two categories: Citizenship Through Registration and Citizenship Through Naturalisation,“ she said at the Penang state assembly sitting here today.
She said this in reply to a question from Nor Zamri Latiff (PAS-Sungai Bakap) who wanted to know the number of citizenship applications received and the number of applications that have been approved.
Meanwhile, she said as of October 2023, the Home Ministry (KDN) has successfully processed a total of 10,381 citizenship applications exceeding the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) benchmark.
She said foreign nationals applying for citizenship under the two categories must have the necessary documents.
“Without the relevant documents, the verification process will be difficult,” she said adding that to facilitate the citizenship application process, the department requires the cooperation and involvement of various agencies such as the police, the Social Welfare Department and Foreign Consulate Offices. -Bernama
