The flow of service seekers has been constant in the District Administration Office (DAO) in Sarlahi after the Supreme Court paved the way for those individuals whose parents are Nepali citizens by birth to acquire citizenship by descent.

Before the court’s decision, children whose parents received citizenship by birth were not eligible to obtain citizenship by descent. Saroj Sah, a native of Gair in Kabilashi Municipality-7, had been waiting for this day for a long time.

“I am very happy after the court’s order. I now qualify for a citizenship. This single document means a lot to me since it’s going to open doors for me to seek employment, here or abroad. It also means I can now start a business if I want to,” Sah said.

Like Saroj, many individuals whose parents are citizens by birth have submitted documents in the district and area administration offices applying for citizenship by descent. The DAO in Sarlahi has started a token system to manage the overwhelming number of applicants.

According to the DAO, the number of people applying for citizenship has increased five times over since the court’s decision. One can obtain his/her citizenship 20 days after submitting their documents.

Drona Pokharel, chief district officer, said that individuals whose parents are citizens by birth are receiving citizenship by descent in accordance with the directive of the Supreme Court and Ministry of Home Affairs.

The DAO provides citizenship to applicants who submit the original citizenships of their parents, their birth registration certificates, and verification of relationships, residence and other essential documents. As per the data of the DAO, 15,578 people have so far received citizenship by birth in the district.

On April 2, the Home Ministry had issued a circular instructing all 77 district administration offices to issue citizenship by descent to

the children of parents who had obtained their citizenship by birth. Within days after the circular was disseminated, the Supreme Court had issued an interim order to the government to stop its implementation. However, the interim order was lifted on April 16 by Justices Hari Krishna Karki and Bam Kumar Shrestha, thus upholding the ministry’s initial decision.