The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

STATE Minister for Immigration Darron Pickstock has rejected claims that a proposed amendment to the Bahamas Nationality Act would create a new immigration category, a loophole or an alternative route to citizenship, insisting the bill only updates an existing administrative process and raises the related fee.

The response came after Free National Movement MP Dr Andre Rollins accused the Davis administration of trying to push a major immigration change through Parliament during the budget debate, warning that the amendment could create a “dangerous loophole for exploitation”.

The Bahamas Nationality (Amendment) Bill, 2026 would allow the minister of immigration to grant permanent residency to people whose citizenship applications are refused, once they pay a $500 fee.

Mr Pickstock said the amendment does not alter the requirements for permanent residency.

“Contrary to some public assertions, the amendment does not establish a new immigration category, create a loophole within the immigration system, or provide an alternative route to citizenship,” Mr Pickstock said in a statement. “Rather, it modernises an existing administrative provision and reflects an increase to the associated processing fee.”

He said people who qualify under the existing constitutional framework may apply to be registered as Bahamian citizens. Those applications are reviewed by the Immigration Board of the Immigration Department and ultimately determined by the executive branch.

Mr Pickstock said that when citizenship is not approved, the executive branch may consider the applicant’s circumstances and connection to The Bahamas and determine that permanent residency is a more appropriate status.

He said applicants currently pay $50 under the existing arrangement, but the amendment would raise the processing fee to $500.

“The Department wishes to strongly emphasise that the eligibility criteria for Permanent Residency remain unchanged,” the statement said. “All applications will continue to undergo rigorous review, enhanced due diligence, and careful adjudication in accordance with all applicable laws and established procedures.”

Dr Rollins, the Long Island MP and opposition shadow minister of foreign affairs and immigration, had criticised the bill as an attempt to bury a significant immigration change inside the budget debate.

“We strongly advise the government against seeking to bury something as significant as the conferral of permanent residency at a cost even cheaper than that of an annual work permit - and its attendant consequences within a budget debate,” the statement read.

Dr Rollins said Opposition Leader Michael Pintard had previously urged the government to establish a select committee on immigration to address concerns about the immigration system transparently.

“Despite this recommendation, the government is attempting to use the upcoming budget debate exercise as an opportunity to introduce by stealth a significant amendment to our nation’s immigration laws, which potentially will create a dangerous loophole for future exploitation,” Dr Rollins said.

The proposed amendment would create a new section 7A in the Bahamas Nationality Act, stating: “If the minister refuses an application under section 7, the minister may, upon payment by the applicant of the fee of $500, grant the applicant a certificate of permanent residence subject to such terms and conditions as the minister thinks fit.”

Section seven of the Act deals with people who are not entitled to Bahamian citizenship at birth but may apply to become citizens. Those categories include women married to Bahamian citizens, people born in The Bahamas to non-Bahamian parents, and people born outside The Bahamas to Bahamian women married to non-Bahamian men.

The issue touches one of the country’s most sensitive and long-running citizenship debates.

Under current law, children born outside The Bahamas to Bahamian women married to non-Bahamian men are not entitled to Bahamian citizenship at birth. They may apply for citizenship after turning 18, but must do so before turning 21.

People born in The Bahamas to non-Bahamian parents are also not automatically entitled to citizenship at birth. They may apply after turning 18, but have only a 12-month window to do so, a restriction that has long raised concerns about the risk of statelessness.

The issue was put to voters in failed referendums in 2002 and 2016, both of which sought to address citizenship equality for married Bahamian women with non-Bahamian spouses.

The existing law allows the minister to refuse citizenship applications on several grounds, including if an applicant was convicted in the previous five years and sentenced to death or more than one year in prison, is not of good behaviour, has engaged in conduct that could threaten public safety or law and order, was declared bankrupt, or lacks the means to support themselves and is likely to become a public charge.

It also allows refusal if, for reasons of public policy, the minister is satisfied that granting citizenship would not be conducive to the public good.