Government adds restrictions to multiple citizenships

The Justice Ministry said Sunday it will attach restrictions to the revised immigration law to prevent the law's abuse by parents who deliberately give birth overseas to obtain foreign citizenship for their children.

South Korea put into effect the revised law from Jan. 1 this year to allow qualified Koreans and foreigners to hold multiple citizenships. The move came after years of debate over fears of abuse in a country where parents go abroad, mostly to the United States, to give birth to obtain birthright citizenship for their children. Such parents often use foreign citizenship to exempt their sons from South Korea's mandatory two-year military service.

 The ministry said for a child to qualify for multiple citizenships, a parent must have stayed abroad for a minimum of six months for study, work or business purposes.

  The children of parents who stayed in South Korea for more than 90 days out of two years spent abroad will also be stripped of the qualification, officials said.

   In other changes to the law, the ministry will waive written tests for Chinese residents in Korea who seek to be naturalized.

   "Some of the Chinese residents have lived in South Korea for decades. Some of them are now in their third generation here," a ministry official said. "Considering that they have assimilated into our society, we decided to exempt them from the written test." (Yonhap News)