By Saman Indrajith
The Department of Immigration and Emigration said that it has received 5,401 requests for dual citizenship in the year 2021.
The Department said the majority of the requests (1,621) had come from residents of Australia.
About 885 individuals from the United Kingdom, 795 from the United States, and 371 from Canada had also made requests, the Department said.
Other requests came from those living in countries like Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, New Zealand, France and Denmark.
The Department has taken steps to provide them with dual citizenship after following the necessary guidelines.
The Department added that 382,560 passports were also issued in 2021. The number of diplomatic passports issued in 2021 is 398, which is a significant increase compared to 2020.
209,411 passports were issued in 2020, and the number of diplomatic passports issued in that year was 175.
The Department said that issuance of passports has probably increased in 2022. More than 300,000 have gone overseas on employment through the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau so far this year.Labour and Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara said that it was the highest number of registered Sri Lankans to have gone overseas for employment in a year.