NASSAU, BAHAMAS — People born to unwed Bahamian men and foreign women will as of Monday, June 26 be able to apply for a passport as long as their father’s name appears on their birth certificate the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced yesterday.
“The Ministry is working closely with the Office of the Attorney General and will advise the public of any amendments or procedural changes regarding the issuance of travel documents as a result of the decision of the Privy Council to uphold the judgment made by the Supreme Court Chief Justice Ian Winder in 2020 in Shannon Tyreck Rolle and fourth others,” the statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted.
Immigration Minister Keith Bell has said previously that some 1,600 applications for Bahamian citizenship at the Department of Immigration are affected by the Privy Council’s landmark ruling in May.
In a landmark decision, the UK-based Privy Council ruled that children born out of wedlock in The Bahamas to foreign women and Bahamian men are citizens at birth and do not have to wait until the age of 18 to apply for citizenship.
The Privy Council’s ruling upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal, which had upheld an earlier decision of then-Supreme Court Justice Ian Winder.
In that ruling, it was determined that children born in The Bahamas are automatically citizens if either parent is a Bahamian.
In particular, the ruling stated that children born out of wedlock to Bahamian fathers are automatically citizens, even if their mother is non-Bahamian.
The case before the Privy Council involved Shannon Tyreck Rolle and four others who were born in The Bahamas and claimed that their biological fathers are citizens of The Bahamas but their mothers are not. Their parents were also not married at the dates of their births. The respondents had sought declarations from the Supreme Court of The Bahamas that they are entitled to citizenship of The Bahamas pursuant to Article 6 of the Constitution.
