Indian parents urged to legalise children

Indian parents in Bahrain must apply for their child's citizenship within one year after the child is born, stressed embassy officials.

A number of cases were discussed at the Indian Embassy open house yesterday including that of an 18-year-old student who is struggling to complete his education because of issues related to nationality.

Speaking about the case, Indian Ambassador Alok Kumar Sinha explained that the student's parents never placed a nationality request for him. "He doesn't have any nationality yet, he is 18 years old and the registration for citizenship is still not done. There were many cases like these, some were sorted out. When there are cases where mother and father are Indian, it is a bit easier to sort out. But when a parent is Indian and the other parent is of another nationality, it becomes more complicated. It becomes a situation where they have to take a decision on which nationality to take. Most of the times, the parents take time to reach a decision and we cannot do anything until they decide," he said.

Addressing the ambassador and the embassy officials, the student said his school informed him that he would not be allowed to continue studying there because of his nationality issue. The Embassy assured the student that all steps will be taken to help him, including sending a letter to the school to allow him to complete his studies.

"When the child is born come to register as soon as possible. One year is the limit, after that it becomes a complex issue," an official said.

Sinha said that the open house was a fruitful one with a variety of cases being discussed. "It was a very useful session, we discussed some problems faced during the amnesty period and registration cases among other things. We are very happy that the open house is getting useful for the community."