A law change that came into effect last Friday through the passing of the Citizenship of Fiji (Revised 2021-2022 National Budget) Bill 2022 will now require a person to stay in Fiji for 15 years in order to obtain citizenship by naturalisation.
The previous requirement of five years has been removed to send a message to other countries “that nobody can willy nilly get Fijian citizenship,” said Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
“Prior to 2007, the minister responsible for immigration could actually give somebody citizenship as he or she pleased,” he said.
“It was very subjective. “We knew people, for example, that come to Fiji running away from the law from other countries and got citizenship. It led to corruption. “We will remove that discretionary power of the minister and said five out of 10.
“We are now saying it is 15 out of 20 which we believe is a good position to be in because we need to ensure that the other countries know that nobody can willy nilly get Fijian citizenship, but at the same time make a lot more liberal in terms of their ability to work and trade in Fiji.”
National Federation Party leader Professor Biman Prasad said countries such as Australia, USA, and United Kingdom had five years for citizenship by naturalisation requirement.
“We are trying to get people to come to this country, live here and invest here and we are putting out laws without thinking,” Prof Prasad said.
“I have said this before in this Parliament that many laws have been brought under Standing Order 51 (and I would say corrupt laws) that have later on found out to be designed for certain individuals.
“That is why, when laws come to the Parliament, they need time. They need our understanding and people need to understand these laws better so that we can build the confidence that we are talking about.”
