The law aims at setting specific criteria that would qualify or disqualify one for citizenship as well as the reasons for which one might lose that. This would remedy the inadequacy of the present lone provisional citizenship act enacted in 1972 to resolve some immediate citizenship complications.

A draft bill styled Bangladesh Citizen Act framed by the law ministry, along with the recommendations of the Law Commission, has been sent to the home ministry, which will be responsible for enforcing the law, seeking its comments.

"We are now awaiting the comments of the home ministry. Then it'll be sent to the cabinet for its approval," Law Minister Barrister Moudud Ahmed told The Daily Star. He anticipates introducing the law within the next three months.

The draft law lays out eight categories of citizenship including by birth, by descent, by registration, by incorporation of territory and dual citizenship or diaspora.

On dual citizenship, it says a Bangladeshi citizen, who has acquired citizenship of any other country recognised by Bangladesh, will retain his or her citizenship of Bangladesh under this category. But diaspora status will not be awarded to the citizens of Bangladesh by registration or naturalisation.

The government can register an applicant as a Bangladeshi citizen if either of his parents or a grandparent of a parent was born anywhere in the undivided Indian Subcontinent. But the applicant has to reside in Bangladesh for five consecutive years and obtain a certificate of domicile right before applying for citizenship, the draft dictates.

It says a mature and able person can be registered as a citizen of Bangladesh by naturalisation if he is granted a certificate of naturalisation under the Naturalisation Act 1926.

It sets three classes of citizenship cancellation -- renunciation, deprivation and for residing abroad for five years.

If a man ceases to be a citizen of Bangladesh, all of his minor children will also lose their citizenship.

A citizen by registration or naturalisation will lose citizenship if he resides outside Bangladesh for five or more consecutive years. The rule however does not apply for those who are employed abroad as government employees or stay abroad for treatment, studies or any other valid reason.

The draft interprets that a person born in a ship or aircraft registered in Bangladesh or hired by or belonging to any Bangladeshi citizen, company or statutory corporation and either of whose parents is a citizen of Bangladesh will be considered as one born in Bangladesh.