BASSETERRE, St Kitts and Nevis — The Cabinet of St Kitts and Nevis has approved the tabling of legislation that would create a pathway to citizenship for certain adults born abroad through a parent or grandparent who became a citizen of the Federation at Independence.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2026, would allow adults born outside St Kitts and Nevis on or after September 19, 1983, to apply to be registered as citizens if their parent or grandparent became a citizen of Saint Christopher and Nevis at Independence.

The proposed reform addresses what the government describes as a gap in the law that has existed for 43 years.

Under the Constitution, citizenship can pass to a child born abroad where a parent was born in St Kitts and Nevis. However, adults born abroad in subsequent generations have had no route to citizenship based on that descent.

People born before Independence are in a different position and are generally already citizens under the Constitution.

Members of the St Kitts and Nevis diaspora have raised the issue for decades through correspondence, overseas missions, diaspora and family associations and, most recently, through a petition presented to the National Assembly in 2025.

Acting Prime Minister Dr Geoffrey Hanley said the proposed legislation responds to those longstanding concerns.

“This Bill corrects a gap that has existed since 1983 and our diaspora have asked for this for a long time, and this Administration has listened,” Hanley said.

“The pathway is a defined one. An adult born after Independence whose parent or grandparent became a citizen at Independence may apply, subject to proof and security screening. It is not a general claim based on ancestry.”

The government provided examples of people who could potentially benefit from the proposed amendment.

One example involves a 23-year-old born in Hamilton, Bermuda, whose grandfather was born in Dieppe Bay. Under the existing constitutional provisions, she did not inherit that citizenship because citizenship for a child born abroad passes only where the parent was born in the Federation, while her mother was also born in Hamilton.

Under the proposed grandparent pathway, she could apply on the strength of her grandfather’s birth certificate.

Another example involves a 30-year-old born in New York in 1996 whose father was born in Brooklyn in 1965 and became a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis at Independence because his own grandmother was born in Gingerland.

While the man was a minor, his father could have applied to register him as the child of a citizen, but that was not done and the entitlement lapsed when he turned 18.

Under the proposed legislation, he may now be able to apply in his own right through the parent pathway, based on his father’s records.

The Bill is scheduled to receive its first reading in the National Assembly on September 18, 2026.

If passed, Regulations will be introduced setting out the application form, required documents and applicable fee. The Act will come into force on a date appointed by the Minister.

The government said details on how to apply will be published before the application process opens.

Members of the diaspora are being advised to begin gathering and certifying their family records but not to submit applications until the government announces that the process is open.