Registration of Citizenship of Children Born Outside Sri Lanka
Only the Sri Lankan father or mother of the child can submit and application for registration of citizenship of a child. The applicant mother or father should be a Sri Lankan citizen or a dual citizen of Sri Lanka at the time of the child’s birth. If both father and mother had become Citizens of another country at the time of the child’s birth, your child is not eligible for Sri Lankan birth registration. If only one parent had held the Sri Lanka citizenship (or dual citizenship) at the time of the birth of the child, that same parent should be the “declarant” of the citizenship.
Required Documents:
- Duly filled Application Form `Citizenship I´ (within 03 months of child birth)
- Duly filled Application Form `Citizenship I´ (after 03 months of child birth). In case if application is made after three months of childbirth; Reasons for Non-Registration of birth & citizenship of child within three (03) months should be also submitted.
- Original Overseas Birth Certificate/Population Registry Extract of the Child (issued by the relevant authorities in the country of birth- in English)
- Original Birth Certificates of the parents OR attested copies by the Honorary Consul of Sri Lanka in the country of residence (Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, & Sweden (Gothernburg), Norway (Bergen & Kristiansand)) or by a Notary public.
- Original Marriage Certificate of the parents OR attested copies by the Honorary Consul of Sri Lanka in the country of residence (Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, & Sweden (Gothernburg), Norway (Bergen & Kristiansand)) or by a Notary public.
- Sri Lankan Passports of the parents OR attested copies by the Honorary Consul of Sri Lanka in the country of residence (Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, & Sweden (Gothernburg), Norway (Bergen & Kristiansand)) or by a Notary public.
- Original Visa of the parents OR attested copies by the Honorary Consul of Sri Lanka in the country of residence (Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, & Sweden (Gothernburg), Norway (Bergen & Kristiansand)) or by a Notary public.
- Photocopies certified by the other parties and translators will not be accepted
- Original visa of the child (IF available) OR attested copies by the Honorary Consul of Sri Lanka in the country of residence (Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, & Sweden (Gothernburg), Norway (Bergen & Kristiansand)) or by a Notary public.
- If the applicant is currently in the process of visa extension/renewal, a letter/status of the visa application from the resident country’s Migration Agency should be submitted. The letter must be in English/an English translation, counter-authenticated by the Foreign Ministry of the country of residence.
- Dual Citizenship Certificate and foreign passport OR attested copies of the dual citizenship certificate and the foreign passport by the Honorary Consul of Sri Lanka in the country of residence (Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, & Sweden (Gothernburg), Norway (Bergen & Kristiansand)) or by a Notary public.
- In case if application is made after one year of childbirth; Reasons for Non-Registration of birth & citizenship of child within three (03) months.
- Affidavit relating to Paternity/Maternity should be submitted by parents who were unmarried at the time of childbirth
Applicable Fee
- Fee for the Registration of Citizenship – SEK 615
- Delayed surcharges (Registrations over one year of child birth) – SEK 60 per year
- Postage within Sweden – SEK 140 (single service fee)
- Postage outside of Sweden – SEK 180 (single service fee)
- Photocopies taken by the Embassy in case of non-submission of copies of original documents) – SEK 50
- Bank fee (cross border transfer) – SEK 50
- The Embassy does not accept PAYMENTS MADE BY CHEQUES. If paid by the Debit/Credit Cards (Only VISA and Master cards), Bank commission of 1.5% will be added to the payment
Processing time
Citizenship Division of the Department of Immigration and Emigration processes the applications and send the certificates to the Embassy for onward transmission to the applicant. It is difficult to give a specific period within which a certificate would be ready. However, we notify the applicant via email when the certificate is ready for collection.
Retaining of the Sri Lankan Citizenship
Citizenship Amendment Act, No. 16 of 2003 – Section 5(2) – A person born outside Sri Lanka after 15th November 1948 will be deemed to be a citizen of Sri Lanka if, at that time, his or her father or mother was a citizen of Sri Lanka (At least one of the parents should be a Sri Lankan) and if within one year of his/her date of birth or within the extended period approved by the Minister, his/her birth is registered at the Sri Lanka Mission in the country of his/her birth or at the office of the Minister.
Children born outside Sri Lanka, whose birth is registered with a Sri Lanka Mission Abroad are issued with certificates under the ‘Consular Functions Act’ by the Registrar General’s Office as well as the ‘Ceylon Citizenship Act’ by the DEPARTMENT OF IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION SRI LANKA.
Certificates issued by the DEPARTMENT OF IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION SRI LANKA under the ‘Ceylon Citizenship Act’ will become void on reaching the age of 22 years, at which time the child will have to decide whether to retain the Sri Lankan citizenship, the citizenship of the country of birth, or both, by submitting an affidavit to the DEPARTMENT OF IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION SRI LANKA within one year of attaining the age of 21 years.
Affidavit for Citizenship Declaration under section 5(2) of the Citizenship Act – Sri Lanka (List of required documents is attached along with the Form K
If you have already obtained dual citizenship this declaration is NOT required to submit.
Applicants who do not comply with this requirement will automatically lose the Sri Lankan Citizenship as stated at the bottom of the Certificate issued by the DEPARTMENT OF IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION SRI LANKA. In view of the above, it is advisable for the parents to keep their children informed of this requirement.
Renunciation of Sri Lankan Citizenship
If you are a Sri Lankan citizen or a dual citizen and wishes to renounce your Sri Lankan citizenship, you should apply for renunciation by submitting the following documents (Please submit original documents + one set of photocopies of all the pages of the document in A4 size:
- Form K Renunciation of Citizenship of Sri Lanka
- A letter of request (photocopy not required)
- Sri Lankan Birth Certificate
- Sri Lankan Citizenship Certificate issued by the Department of Immigration and Emigration of Sri Lanka (if applicable)
- Sri Lankan passport
- Sri Lankan national identity card (if applicable)
- Dual citizenship certificate (if applicable)
- Foreign citizenship certificate authenticated by the Foreign Ministry of the country concerned
- Foreign passport (bio data page and observations page) authenticated by the Foreign Ministry of the country concerned
- Translations in lieu of originals not accepted.
Applicable Fee
- Fee for the Renunciation of Citizenship – SEK 712 (Declaration)
- Fee for Legalization of documents issued by the country of residence SEK 492 (for each document)
- Photocopies taken by the Embassy in case of non-submission of copies of original documents) – SEK 50
- Bank fee (cross border transfer) – SEK 50
- The Embassy does not accept PAYMENTS MADE BY CHEQUES. If paid by the Debit/Credit Cards (Only VISA and Master cards), Bank commission of 1.5% will be added to the payment
Processing time
Department of Immigration and Emigration, Colombo, Sri Lanka will communicate with the applicant directly, after the documents are forwarded to the said Department by the Embassy.