Lithuanian MPs register proposal to hold dual citizenship referendum on May 12, 2024

VILNIUS – A group of Lithuanian lawmakers have registered a bill on holding compulsory referendum on the legalization of dual citizenship on 12 May, 2024.

More than 60 members of the country's parliament, the Seimas, have registered such a proposal.

The documents states that "citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania shall be acquired by birth and on other grounds in accordance with the procedure established by the constitutional law. The constitutional law shall also determine the grounds and procedure for the loss of citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania."

This would remove the existing ban on dual citizenship from the country's Constitution.

The constitutional law would also include detailed conditions, procedures and other matters relating to the acquisition and loss of dual citizenship.

Lithuanian held a referendum on expanding possibilities for having dual citizenship in conjunction with the presidential elections in 2019 but failed to get enough votes to pass as the change needed backing from more than half of the citizens having the right to vote and being on the electoral roll.

Now in Lithuania, people who emigrated after the restoration of independence on March 11, 1990 are currently not eligible for dual citizenship, with some exceptions.

The Constitutional Court has clarified that only a referendum amending the Constitution can open up the possibility of dual citizenship to Lithuanian citizens who have acquired citizenship of other countries after the restoration of Lithuania's independence.