Press release, 13 November 2014
Arminas Lydeka, MP, submitted to the Seimas amendments to the Law on Citizenship (draft No. XIIP-2110), proposing to allow foreign-born Lithuanians to hold dual citizenship.
The draft law stipulates that citizens of the Republic of Lithuania may be citizens of another state at the same time, if they acquire dual citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania and another country by birth. Their children in this case may also hold dual citizenship. Only in this case will their grandchildren at the age of 21 years be entitled to choose whether to be the citizens of the Republic of Lithuania or of another state. This would give the opportunity to hold dual citizenship for members of only two generations.
Under the legislation currently in force, persons with dual citizenship acquired by birth need to choose the citizenship of one country they want to be citizens of at the age of 21. My proposal, if adopted, will enlarge the number of Lithuanian citizens by several hundred, and relieve some people from the need to choose, poetically speaking, between Mom and Dad, opting for the citizenship that is more relevant for them at the time, Mr Lydeka said.
The amendments also envisage law enforcement procedures. The individuals entitled to hold dual citizenship of Lithuania and another state under this provision, who lost the citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania and acquired citizenship of another state before the Act came into force, will be entitled to lodging applications for restoration of the citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania under the procedures provided for by the Law on Citizenship. Such requests may be filed within three years from the entry into force of the law.
After submission, 57 MPs voted in favour of the amendments, with no votes against and 12 abstentions. Subject to approval of the draft after submission, it will be further discussed in parliamentary committees. The debate on this issue at the Seimas is scheduled for the spring session.
Rimas Rudaitis, Public Relations Unit, Communications Department, Office of the Seimas, tel. +370 5 239 6132, e-mail: [email protected]
