Immigration To Bhutan - Immigration Law and Policy

Immigration Law and Policy

Toward the end of the reign of the second King Jigme Wangchuck in the 1950s, the numbers of new immigrants had swelled causing tension between the King and the Dorji family in the Bhutan House. Amnesty was given through the Citizenship Act of 1958 – Bhutan's first modern laws regarding immigration and citizenship – for all those who could prove their presence in Bhutan for at least 10 years prior to 1958. On the other hand, the government also banned further immigration in 1958. The Act was pronounced by the Druk Gyalpo King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck among a series of legal and social reforms in 1958 designed to begin modernizing Bhutan, including the abolition of slavery. The 1958 Act defined Bhutanese citizenship in patrilineal terms, and provided a basic framework for the process of naturalization in Bhutan. Initially, applicants other than wives of Bhutanese citizens were required to show a ten-year residency, five years of service to the government, and ownership of agricultural land. The 1958 Act originally defined no procedural framework for immigration. It also allowed the King to make ad hoc changes to the law, and left decisions largely to the discretion of the King and government officials.

In 1977, an amendment lengthened the residency requirement for naturalization to 20 years (15 years if in service to Bhutan), and the requirement of owning agricultural land was eschewed. Deprivation of citizenship as a punishment for sedition was expanded to associates and family relatives of seditious citizens. The amendment introduced other requirements, such as knowledge of Dzongkha and adherence to Ngalop customs. The amendment also introduced a procedural framework for citizenship and naturalization; namely it codified procedural requirements for census registration and births abroad and designated the Ministry of Home Affairs as the government agency to oversee immigration matters. The 1958 Act and 1977 amendments were superseded by the Bhutanese Citizenship Act 1985, though much of the procedural framework established in 1977 remains de jure in effect because it was not overridden.

Since the Bhutanese Citizenship Act of 1985 and subsequent Immigration Act of 2007, immigration policy and procedure have been implemented by the Lhengye Zhungtshog (Council of Ministers), Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs, Department of Immigration. Procedural safeguards for both naturalization and bona fide citizenship remained largely absent: applicants could be rejected for no reason at all, such decisions were final and binding, and even bona fide Bhutanese citizens faced deprivation of citizenship for sedition. Placement and maintaining one's placement in the national census registry is of central importance to legitimizing and proving one's citizenship. Placement by government workers into census registry categories, which ranged from "Genuine Bhutanese" to "Non-nationals: Migrants and Illegal Settlers," has been arbitrary, and could be arbitrarily changed. In some cases members of the same family have been, and still are, placed in different categories. Furthermore, only the entries recorded at the Dzongkhag (second highest) level are deemed valid; official local Dungkhag, Gewog, Chewog or other civil records are disregarded. Under the latest Immigration Act of 2007, department-level immigration officers were given a mandate, and left wide discretion, to enter private premises; examine documents, persons, and things; seize items; and arrest persons. These officers are immunized under the 2007 Act for all wrongful acts and omissions committed in good faith in the discharge of their duty.

Bhutanese immigration policy, as reflected in its citizenship laws, can be described as highly assimilatory, requiring familiarity with the dominant Ngalop culture and allegiance to the Ngalop King of Bhutan. Its broader citizenship policy toward both immigrants and citizens alike can also be described as assimilatory, and on its face, a tool against dissent.