No foreigner can be given Sri Lankan citizenship

No foreigner been granted permanent Sri Lankan citizenship in recent history, says the Sri Lanka Human Rights Centre, noting that there are no laws to allow it either.

CHR executive director Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon is issuing a statement over the controversy surrounding 30 Rohingya Muslims,
who are Myanmar nationals, presently in Sri Lanka.

He says refugees from Burma, now Myanmar, began to arrive in Sri Lanka in March 2008.

All 55 of the first group left in July 2012, and 101 others who came in February 2013 were granted refugee status in the US and Canada through the mediation of the UN.

Immigration and emigration act

As per immigration and emigration act no. 20 of 1948, the government cannot give permanent resident status to any foreigner.

Therefore, it is only imagination to speak about granting Sri Lankan citizenship to these Myanmar nationals, the CHR statement says.

Sri Lanka cannot accept, and will not accept, any refugee, and the UN cannot ask, and has not asked, the country to accept refugees, it adds.

The controller of immigration and emigration confirms it.

Even if a foreign woman marries a Sri Lankan, she cannot become a permanent resident, and will be granted a visa license only.

At present, the Myanmar nationals in the country comprise 16 children, seven men and seven women, while one child was born here, but that child will not be a Sri Lankan citizen.

Also, there are four others who had arrived on fake passports.

Staying under UN care

According to international law, all of them are staying here under UN care and it is not the Sri Lankan government, but the UN, which provides everything for them.

The UN is at talks with several western countries to grant them protection.

Frightened of the helpless

We are a nation frightened of the helpless who arrive in boats, says Tennnakoon.

On the other hand, more than 1.8 million Sri Lankans had been granted refugees status by western countries after 1983 and allowed them to prosper, along with their relatives back home, according to Tennakoon.

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