58 Years in Bahrain; Mangalorean Family Struggles to Get Citizenship

• Originally Christian family, which embraced Islam 10 years ago

Begena P Pradeep / Gulf Daily News

Bahrain, Jun14: Three Indian siblings claim they have been struggling for almost two years to get Bahraini citizenship, so that at least one of them can sponsor the rest of the family, who are staying illegally in Bahrain.The Indian family of eight, which claims to have been living here for three generations, is still waiting for nationality from the Bahraini government after applying in October 2006.

The children never finished school and ended up working at an early age because they don't have residency documents.

The case's history dates back to the 1950s when the father of the head of the family came to Bahrain from Mangalore, Karnataka, and set up a lodging business in Manama.

The originally Christian family, which embraced Islam 10 years ago, says that after several attempts to follow up on its application, the family found out that the names of its members were not listed at the Royal Court and were not given a reference number.

The father, mother and their three younger children have reportedly been staying in Bahrain without a valid residence permit since their sponsor died a few years ago.

The elder three children Mariam, 24, Fathima, 23, Abdulla, 21, do have valid Indian passports and visas, as they are working for various companies in Bahrain.

The passports of father Bilal, his wife Fouzia and fourth child Ayesha, 20, expired years ago.

However, Omar, 19, and Lubna, 17, don't have passports to prove their citizenship as the Indian Embassy had refused them around 10 years ago on the grounds that the parents had no legal status.

Mariam, who did not want to publish the family's last name, said that she had applied for Bahraini citizenship along with Fathima and Abdulla almost two years ago, hoping that one of them would then be able to sponsor the rest of the family.

Mariam's grandfather arrived in Bahrain with her uncle and was joined by her grandmother and father in 1963.

In 1965, the grandmother went to India and died there while the grandfather died in Bahrain 10 years later.

"Since there were no papers to prove that my father (whose original name was Anthony) could inherit his father's business, it was closed down," she said.

"He then began working as a labourer at the Central Market as he had very little education.

"He went to India in 1981 to get married and came back two years later with my mother, called Theresa then.

"When it was time to renew the residence permit in 1988, the sponsor asked for a huge amount which my father couldn't afford.

"The sponsor did not make an effort to get in touch with us again and the subject was eventually put on hold.

"When the sponsor died a few years later, his wife returned our passports."

The youngest two children only studied up to kindergarten and the rest of them studied only up to the seventh grade, said Mariam.

"We went to the Sacred Heart School, but could not continue because we did not have our CPR cards.

"I began working at the age of 13 and so did Fathima and Abdulla.

Mariam said that the family embraced Islam in 1998.

"We want to stay here, in this wonderful paradise called Bahrain until we die."

Human rights activist and National Committee of People Deprived of Citizenship supervisor Sonya Taher had earlier said if a person has lived continuously in Bahrain for more than 25 years and spoke fluent Arabic, he or she was eligible for citizenship.

The General Directorate of Nationality, Passports and Residence Human Resources and Finance department head Nayef Al Sherooqi said that the basic criterion to apply for citizenship is legal residence.

"The applicant must definitely be a legal resident, which means the parents cannot apply," he told the GDN.

"As it's only the elder three children who have valid visas, their applications could have been accepted if they had stayed here for 25 years or more.

"So the eldest child Mariam should apply once she has crossed the age of 25, which means she has to wait for at least a year. Moreover, there are other criteria too."

Mr Al Sherooqi said that it was not guaranteed that Mariam or her siblings would get citizenship even if she meets all the criteria as the decision was up to the higher authorities.

"We cannot say for sure that Mariam or anyone who applies, even after meeting all requirements, will be naturalised," he said.

"People who apply cannot simply expect to get citizenship the next day.

"It is a thorough process and the application will be scrutinised many times by higher authorities because this is a very serious task.

"The higher authorities should be convinced that the applicant is eligible for a citizenship."