Nepal UK
As Nepal's Parliament weighs a new Non-Resident Nepali (NRN) Act that still bars dual citizenship for tens of thousands of UK-based Nepalis, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has put the issue back in play with a “Citizen Contract” manifesto pledge to guarantee “continuity of citizenship by descent” for Nepalis who take foreign nationality — a change that, if ever enacted, would overturn the legal principle that has stripped Nepalis abroad of their birthright citizenship for decades.
Under current law, Nepali citizenship lapses automatically the moment a citizen acquires foreign nationality, per Section 11 of the Citizenship Act 2063. Article 14 of the Constitution created a fallback — “Non-Resident Nepali Citizenship” — available to descent-based Nepali citizens from non-SAARC countries for up to three generations. It confers rights to reside, own property and do business in Nepal, but explicitly excludes voting rights, election candidacy and government employment. This is the status most UK Nepalis who have naturalised as British citizens currently hold, or are eligible to hold.
RSP's “Citizen Contract,” unveiled ahead of its full manifesto, pledges online voting rights for Nepalis abroad, continuity of citizenship by descent, a sovereign diaspora fund and “dignified” investment and repatriation channels. Ratopati's analysis notes the party currently holds no seats in the National Assembly, and any constitutional amendment would require a two-thirds majority in both houses of the Federal Parliament — a threshold RSP is nowhere near meeting, making near-term change improbable regardless of general election results. The same legal ambiguity around foreign citizenship previously cost Rabi Lamichhane his parliamentary seat and Home Minister post, after the Supreme Court ruled his Nepali citizenship had lapsed when he naturalised abroad and was never formally reacquired before he stood for office.
Separately, the NRN Act draft itself — criticised in a Kathmandu Post column by data scientist Bibek Poudel — is more permissive than the 2008 law but stops short of dual citizenship and continues to exclude SAARC-based Nepalis. For UK-based NRNs, the practical upshot of both tracks is the same for now: no vote, no candidacy, no government job, and property and investment rights that remain contingent on holding the limited NRN Citizenship card rather than full dual nationality. With remittances equal to roughly 28 percent of Nepal's GDP and diaspora bond ambitions running to Rs1 trillion annually, NRNA UK's long-standing push for expanded rights remains unresolved, with neither the RSP proposal nor the NRN Act draft carrying a confirmed timeline for passage.
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