By Glenda Anderson, Staff Reporter 
THE PASSPORT and Immigration Office in Kingston is reporting a slight increase in the number of Jamaicans living overseas who are choosing to give up their Jamaican citizenship as several countries tighten their immigration rules in response to the terrorist attacks in the United States in September 2001.
According to information provided by the Citizenship Department of the Passport Office in Kingston, 39 requests for renunciation were granted to persons wishing to relinquish their Jamaican nationalities in 2001, and another 47 were granted last year.
This increase was, however, described as "significant" by Carol Hammond, director of the Citizenship Department because previously many people preferred to keep dual citizenship where this was allowed.
INFORMATION
She said that based on information given by the applicants, many persons were being "forced to acquire citizenship in the respective countries in order to derive social benefits" especially for children or other family members.
She identified England and its dependencies, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda as well as the Bahamas as among the countries which have made amendments to their citizenship acts.
"Holland has also changed its citizenship laws to essentially 'lock in' its resources," she said of the widening trend. "The feeling is that over the years persons have been abusing it in that they acquire citizenship, and they (the countries) have to be supporting them whether they are resident in the country or not. The idea now is that you're either Dutch or not, if you're Dutch you're in if not you're out, they're not supporting you otherwise," she said.
But attempts to reach a representative of the Royal Netherlands Embassy proved futile.
With regard to foreign applicants, British Immigration laws identify a citizen as one born in the United Kingdom after January 1, 1983 only if one parent was "at the time of his birth a British citizen or lawfully settled in the United Kingdom".
The individual is also regarded as a citizen if he were "born outside the United Kingdom after January 1, 1983 and at the time of his birth one parentwas a British citizen other than by descent or was registered or naturalised as a British citizen after January 1, 1983.
Parent includes the mother but not the father of an illegitimate child.
Commonwealth citizens must also establish that one parent "at the time of his birth or legal adoption was a citizen of the United Kingdom and colonies and had his/her citizenship by being born in the United Kingdom."
However for its part, Jamaica has not made any amendments to its immigration requirements for persons wishing to become citizens.
"We are not as stringent as most states, in that some conditions now being applied came out of the 9/11 situation. They have made a lot of amendments, we have not. It is now left to us to look to see what needs to be done," Mrs. Hammond said.
Persons may still apply for Jamaican citizenship in one of several categories; direct decent, registration or naturalisation (for foreigners), registration of spouses, with an approximate waiting time of one year to allow for investigations.
Meanwhile applications for immigrant status in the United States may take upwards of five years for processing to be complete. Other countries like the UK allow that illegal entry time was no longer considered.
"Time spent after illegal entry or as an overstayer does not count, although time spent on immigration restrictions can be included but they must have been lifted before completion of the five years.
In 2001, 183 persons were granted Jamaican citizenship by descent, in 2002, the figure rose to 563 persons.
