WEB DESK
Bangladeshi citizens can now avail citizenship of 44 more new countries while keeping their Bangladeshi citizenship. The decision to expand the existing list of 57 countries to 101 countries for which the Bangladeshi people can keep dual citizenship was cleared by the cabinet on Monday.
Briefing media in Dhaka on Monday, Cabinet Secretary Mahbub Hossai said that the proposal over dual citizenship was proposed by the Security Services Division of the Home Ministry which was approved by the cabinet.
Out of these 44 countries 19 countries are in Africa, 12 countries are in South America, 12 countries are in the Caribbean region and one in Oceania. The new list includes Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, Algeria, Sudan, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Fiji among others.
Bangladesh allows for dual citizenship under limited circumstances based on procedures prescribed by the government. Bangladeshi origin people who are citizens of the USA, UK, Australia, Canada and Europe are allowed to take up dual citizenship of Bangladesh. Such people based on their application and fulfilling certain conditions are issued a Dual Nationality Certificate (DNC) and they can obtain a Bangladeshi passport, apart from the passport of those countries.
However, people with dual citizenship are not permitted to become members of parliament or contest elections in Bangladesh. People from the SAARC region are not allowed to have dual citizenship as per Bangladeshi law.