5.2.1

PREVIEW

1. Should all people living permanently in Myanmar be considered legal citizens under the law? 
2. Should there be different, unequal levels of citizenship?

The Burma Citizenship Law is the main law that regulates legal citizenship in Myanmar. It was written by the BSPP after the 1974 Constitution was adopted. The Burma Citizenship Law does not specifically mention the current officially recognised 135 taingyintha groups. However, it does specify that members of certain ethnic groups are ‘full citizens’. 

The Burma Citizenship Law does not allow a person to have legal citizenship status from multiple countries. Therefore a person who has a legal citizenship status in Myanmar cannot be a legal citizen in another country and a person who has legal citizenship status in another country cannot be a legal citizen in Myanmar.

Myanmar has three categories of citizenship:

Citizens (‘full citizens’) refers to people who have the highest level of access to rights and legal protection. Persons who were full citizens at the time of the adoption of the Burma Citizenship Law are still full citizens. 

Chapter 2, article 3 states that “Nationals such as the Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Chin, Burman, Mon, Rakhine or Shan and ethnic groups as have settled in any of the territories included within the State as their permanent home from a period prior to 1185 B.E., 1823 A.D. are Burma Citizens.” 

This recognises that other ethnic groups may reside in Myanmar, but the decision of whether they are “national or not” is the decision of the government under article 4. 

Recognition of a group as “national” can happen in two ways: evidence of permanent settlement before 1823 (article 3) or recognition by the President of the Union Government (article 4). The law does not state how membership of an ethnic group is determined. For example, it states that a Chin is a legal citizen, but it does not specify information about what makes a person Chin or how someone administering the law determines if someone is Chin. 

Full citizenship is also recognised under the law for the following people:

• Persons whose parents are both full citizens are also full citizens. 
• Persons who have one parent who is a full citizen and one parent who is an associate or naturalised citizen are also full citizens. 
• Persons whose parents and at least two grandparents are associate citizens or naturalised citizens are full citizens. 

Under the Burma Citizenship Law, members of the ethnic or indigenous groups considered to be “national” are automatically full citizens by birth. This gives them a privilege in relation to legal citizenship compared to members of other groups. Dr. Nick Cheesman, a Southeast Asian Studies scholar, has concluded that the Burma Citizenship Law “makes membership in a national race the gold standard for citizenship and the primary basis for determining the rights of someone claiming to be a member of the political community that was then ‘Burma’ and subsequently ‘Myanmar’” (Cheesman 2017:11). 

Citizens are given a pink Citizenship Scrutiny Card (CSC).

Associate Citizens refers to people who had applied for documents to prove their legal citizenship status under the Union Citizenship Act of 1948 and who had not yet received a decision on their application by the time the Burma Citizenship Law was adopted in 1982.

Children of associate citizens can also be associate citizens if the Central Body includes their names on the blue Associate Citizenship Scrutiny Card (ACSC) of their parents. The Central Body consists of Ministers from the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population, and a person assigned by the Secretary.  

Naturalised Citizens refers to different categories of people who are not recognised as full citizens under the law. 

People who entered and resided in Myanmar’s territory before January 4, 1948, when the country gained independence, and who had not yet applied for documents to prove their legal citizenship status under the Union Citizenship Act of 1948 by the time the Burma Citizenship Law was adopted in 1982 were eligible to apply for naturalised citizenship.

The following people, who may have been born inside or outside Myanmar’s territory, may also be eligible to apply for naturalised citizenship:

• Persons who have one parent who is a full citizen and one parent who is a “foreigner”, whom the law defines to be “not a citizen, associate citizen or naturalised citizen”.
• Persons who have one parent who is an associate citizen and one parent who is a naturalised citizen. 
• Persons who have one parent who is an associate citizen and one parent who is a “foreigner”, whom the law defines to be “not a citizen, associate citizen or naturalised citizen”.  
• Persons whose parents are naturalised citizens. 
• Persons who have one parent who is a naturalised citizen and one parent who is a “foreigner”, whom the law defines to be “not a citizen, associate citizen or naturalised citizen”.  

People applying for naturalised citizenship status must also meet the following criteria:

• above 18 years old; 
• able to speak “one of the national languages” well;
• “be of good character” and;
• “be of sound mind”. 

However, these criteria are not further explained in the law. Moreover, they may be discriminatory against certain persons.

People who were married to either a full citizen, associate citizen or naturalised citizen and who held a Foreigner’s Registration Certificate by the time the Burma Citizenship Law was adopted in 1982 can also apply for naturalised citizenship status if the following criteria are met:

• above 18 years old; 
• “be of good character”;
• “be of sound mind”;
• be the sole spouse of their partner and;
• lived as the sole spouse of their partner within the territory of Myanmar for three consecutive years. 

Children of naturalised citizens can also apply for documents to prove their naturalised citizenship status if the Central Body includes their names on the green Naturalised Citizenship Scrutiny Card (NCSC) of their parents. 

The term “naturalised citizen” in Myanmar has a meaning different from the legal process of naturalisation recognised in international law. In Myanmar, “naturalised citizen” refers to a category of citizenship. This category of citizenship does not have as many rights and as much protection as “full citizens”. In international law, naturalisation refers to a process of becoming a legal citizen, usually with equal rights as every other legal citizen. 

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION

1. What is your legal citizenship status in Myanmar?
2. Why do you think Myanmar has three different categories of citizenship?
3. Do you think it is fair or unfair that the President of the Union Government can decide if a group is “national” or not?