Parents, Register Your Babies Immediately After Birth To Avoid Citizenship Problems
The National Registration Department defines normal registration of birth as registration that is made within 14 days of birth.
By Nandini Balakrishnan — 09 Jun 2017, 06:04 PM
Parents have been advised to register their newborn babies immediately after birth to ensure that they face no problems with attaining automatic citizenship for their child
Bernama reported Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed, saying that parents who fail to register the births of their children within 60 days of birth could possibly be fined or risk facing issues with getting automatic citizenship for their children.
"So we advise parents to register their children within 60 days of birth because if any longer, they could be fined and it could also cause problems in getting automatic citizenship."
"Children who are registered late will have to get permanent resident status under the Application for Citizenship Under Article 15 (2)," said Nur Jazlan, as reported by Bernama on 8 June.
According to the National Registration Department (NRD), Application For Citizenship Under Article 15(2) is the application for a person under the age of 21 whose parent or parents are or (were at the time of death) citizens of Malaysia.
However, the National Registration Department (NRD) says that registration made 42 days after the birth of a child is considered as 'late registration of birth'
"Late registration of birth refers to registration made more than 42 days after the date of birth of a child in Malaysia," read the reason for application under late registration of birth on the NRD website.
Here are the application eligibility conditions according to NRD:
The applicants shall consist of two persons, namely:
1. Mother or father and a sponsor with knowledge of the birth who is 15 years older than the child (if one of the parents cannot be found / is deceased); or
2. Two sponsors acquainted with the child, who are both aged 21 and above and are at least 15 years older than the child (if both parents cannot be found / are deceased); or
3. Two sponsors who are social welfare officers or two persons who have been given custody of the child in accordance with the Child Protection Act 1991 (if the child is found stranded).
The applicants can apply for late registration of birth at any of the NRD offices near their place of residence. For details on the documents necessary for the application, refer here.
Applicants will have to pay a penalty of not more than RM50, birth register search fee of RM5, and RM10 for the processing fee for late registration of birth.
Note that normal registration of birth refers to registration that is made within 14 days of the birth of a child
If a child is registered within 14 days of birth, applicants will not need to pay any application fee. They will only need to bring the necessary documents and head to the nearest NRD office to obtain the birth certificate of the child.
Applications made between the 15th to the 42nd day after the birth of a child is considered as delayed registration. Applicants will have to pay a processing fee worth RM5.
For more details on the registration process and documents needed for the application, refer to the NRD website here.