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Permanent residence for persons of Sri Lanka descent, foreign spouses
ECONOMYNEXT –Persons of Sri Lanka descent, including those who have renounced their citizenship, and foreign spouses would be able to get permanent residence status, under regulations gazetted by the ministry of public security.
A person of Sri Lankan descent or “whose citizenship of sri Lanka has ceased under sections 19, 20 or 21 of the Citizenship Act” as well as a foreign spouse would be eligible to apply after six months of marriage under the new regulations.
However, if the marriage is dissolved before 5 years, the PR status would automatically cease.A person of Sri Lanka descent is someone whose parents, grand parents or great grand parents were born in or are still citizens of the island.
A fee of 1,000 dollars would be charged. Children would also be allowed PR status at 400 dollars.In Sr Lanka regulations issued by gazette (subsidiary legislation) by most laws, usually have to be presented to parliament before they are implemented by the agency concerned.
Ex-Sri Lankans earlier had to apply for dual citizenship, which was not allowed by some countries.However permanent resident status is provided by many countries.
Sri Lanka’s PR status allows persons to work, run businesses, buy or inherit property.There are large numbers of Sri Lankans who have obtained citizenship in foreign countries who have not applied for dual citizenship.
Sri Lanka also does not have a naturalization path unlike Western nations which leads to them exiting whatever assets they have in this country and investing it in the new countries.A controversy has also arisen at the moment with legislators losing their parliamentary seats due to being foreign citizens.
Approval of the Cabinet of Ministers has been granted at their meeting held on 19.05.2025 in order to introduce amendments to the Inland Revenue Act No. 24 of 2017 including the proposed tax revisions to enhance the tax structure paving way for state financial integrity based on revenue.
Accordingly, the revised draft bill has been prepared by the legal draftsman and clearance of the Attorney General has been received.
Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers has granted approval for
the resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Policy Planning and Economic Development to publish the aforementioned draft bill in the government gazette notification and subsequently, forward the same to the Parliament for its concurrence.
The National Mineral Policy was prepared for the first time in the year 1999, and the aforementioned policy has been amended in 2023 to cover matters such as preparing an updated data system related to mineral resources, adding value to the export of minerals, encouraging mineral-related industrialists, extracting mineral resources and managing the environment sustainably, and resolving the issues related to the ownership of the land arising in extracting mineral resources.
The revised National Mineral Policy has been reupdated in line with the manifesto “A Sustainable Resource Utilization – Generation of the Highest Benefit” under the policy statement of the current government” A Thriving Nation – A Beautiful Life.”
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution presented by the Minister of Industries and
Entrepreneurship to implement the so-formulated “National Mineral Policy—2026.”
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