Sabin Shrestha 3.1.1. Citizenship by descent Citizenship by descent has been further categorised into six types: 1. Citizens by descent who acquired citizenship before the commencement of the constitution All citizens of Nepal who acquired their citizenship by descent before the commencement of the Constitution of Nepal in 2015 are recognised as citizens by descent.17 2. Citizenship through father or mother Any person whose father or mother was a citizen of Nepal at their time of birth is deemed to be a citizen by descent.18 3. Citizenship for children of citizens by birth Children whose father or mother acquired citizenship by birth can acquire citizenship by descent only if both the father and mother are citizens of Nepal.19 This means that a child born to a Nepalese citizen by birth and a foreigner cannot acquire citizenship by descent. 4. Citizenship for children whose father and mother are unidentified A child found in the territory of Nepal has citizenship by descent until the time the paternity or maternity of the child is traced.20 5. Citizenship for children born in Nepal to Nepalese women Children born to Nepalese women in Nepal having permanent domicile in Nepal can acquire citizenship by descent, but only if the father of such children cannot be traced.21 The constitution does not clarify the meaning of the term 'father not traced.' 6. Children born to Nepali women and foreign men Children born to Nepalese women and foreign men can acquire citizenship by descent if at the time of application both the parents are Nepalese citizens.22 However, if only the mother is a Nepalese citizen at the time of the application and the father is not, the children from such parents acquire naturalised citizenship. This is contradicts the constitutional provisions themselves and the Citizenship Act, 2066, Section 3(1), which states that a person whose father or mother is a citizen of Nepal shall be a citizen by descent. This is further elaborated as below. Citizenship by descent according to the Nepal Citizenship Act, 2066 Section 3 of the act lays down the criteria for eligibility for citizenship by descent. It states that a person whose father or mother was a citizen of Nepal at the time of the person’s birth is a citizen of Nepal by descent.23 However, the following sub-section restricts this provision by specifying that persons born to Nepalese women married to foreign men can only acquire the 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 6 Article 11(2)(a), Constitution of Nepal, 2015. Article 11(2)(b), Constitution of Nepal, 2015. Article 11(3), Constitution of Nepal, 2015. Article 11(4), Constitution of Nepal, 2015. Article 11(5), Constitution of Nepal, 2015. Provision of Article 11(7), Constitution of Nepal, 2015. Nepal Citizenship Act, 2006, sec. 3(1). RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2017/8 - © 2017 Author