Committee to review 1,247 Sabah citizenship applications
KOTA KINABALU (Aug 14): A total of 1,247 citizenship applications from Sabah will be evaluated by the newly established Sabah State-Level Special Committee on Citizenship Status, jointly chaired by Federal Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
Saifuddin revealed this after chairing the committee's inaugural meeting at Menara Kinabalu today.
He said the applications, made under Article 15A of the Federal Constitution, were among more than 2,000 submissions recorded from 2021 to 2024.
'This committee has been established to thoroughly review and recommend decisions on each citizenship application. These include applications involving children born out of wedlock, those under institutional care, and children born to non-citizen parents, among others,' he explained.
He added that the committee was formed to expedite decisions on the 1,247 cases currently under its consideration, following a similar mechanism already in place between the Home Ministry and the Sarawak Government.
During the meeting, Saifuddin and Hajiji also co-chaired the Central Committee on Foreign Nationals Management, which aims to digitalise data collection efforts.
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