PUTRAJAYA: Citizenship applicants will be able to learn their application statuses within a year due to the clearer standard operating procedures (SOPs) in place.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said while the amendments to the Federal Constitution on citizenship had yet to be approved in Parliament, the SOPs have already been developed.
"Eighty per cent of citizenship cases involve Article 15A and 19(1) of the Constitution, which covers foundlings and naturalisation.
"The ministry is 'bound' to issue a decision on the application within a year," he said in a media briefing today.
Meanwhile, Safuddin said the ministry went through the amendments to the Federal Constitution on citizenship matters with the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) in ensuring that every aspect was considered.
"We followed Suhakam's report presented to the Conference of Rulers and everything in the meeting minutes, and not those issued in media statements."
He was responding to Suhakam's recent statement calling for the government to reconsider the removal of automatic citizenship for children born to Malaysian permanent residents from the Constitution.
In July, the Conference of Rulers had given the green light to the latest citizenship bill presented by the ministry in July.