PRESS RELEASE

Press Release # 12

Palikir, POHNPEI (4th FSM Con-Con)- Committee Proposal 4-05 passed on Second Reading by unanimous votes of all State Delegations. Committee Proposal 4-05, proposed amendments to Article III of the Constitution of the Federated States of Micronesia which sets out the requirements for citizenship.

The intent and purpose of the Committee Proposal is (1) to allow a FSM Citizen who satisfies Section 2 of the FSM Constitution to hold dual citizenship. According to Section 2, a person born of parents one or both of whom are citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia is a citizen and national of the Federated States of Micronesia by birth. (2) to restore FSM citizenship to those who lost their citizenship because they failed to renounce their citizenship of a foreign country. (3) to provide a pathway for FSM citizens who knowingly renounced their FSM citizenship to restore their FSM citizenship by meeting such requirements as Congress may provide by law, and (4) to remove sections of Article III for which there are no longer any persons eligible to claim FSM citizenship.

Committee Proposal 4-05 will be heard on Final Reading on Friday, March 13th.