NASSAU — The government has approved more than 100 applications for citizenship since the Citizenship Committee was formed in February and is on pace, if the rate is sustained, to naturalise nearly 400 people by year-end, according to Immigration Minister Brent Symonette, The Tribune reported on May 9 in an article written by Chief Reporter Ava Turnquest.
Mr Symonette told The Tribune the Citizenship Committee had processed a total of 120 applications as of last week, since its first meeting about three months ago.
The committee meets every two weeks to review applications of people who have clearly a constitutional right – ie they were born in the Bahamas and applied between the ages of 18 and 19 – to be registered as citizens.
Mr. Symonette said 90 per cent of applicants sworn in were “born here, lived here all their lives and everything else. I would guess that 30 of the 35 I swore in last week were Haitian nationals.”
There were 3,331 citizenship approvals between 2012 and April 2017, with Mr Symonette telling Parliament last year the rate appeared to increase toward the end of the Christie administration’s last term
