Parliament passes amendment to citizenship law

Those wishing to obtain Ebenthali citizenship must now have proficiency in at least one of the country's two official languages.

The Portuguese Language Museum in São Paulo, Brazil. For illustrative purposes.

On Sunday the 10th of July 2022, The Most Dignified Mr. Count of Allesgüt presented to the House of Councillors a draft amendment to the Ebenthali Nationality Law and Ebenthali Citizenship Act introducing proven proficiency in one of the official national languages, Portuguese and English, as a requirement for acquiring Ebenthali citizenship. The bill, which was called the "Third Amendment to Citizenship," was discussed at length in the lower house, with critics such as The Most Dignified Mr. Eric de Padua (Worker's) having described it as "restrictive" and "unnecessary". He argued: "[...] this only serves to diminish the interest of others in becoming a citizen of Ebenthal and we all know that [you] are only doing this in a bigoted way to restrict the wave of citizenship applications made by Pakistanis and others." The Moderate Party took up the defense of the project and had indiscriminate support from the Conservative Party through The Most Dignified Mr. Count of Maldras who replied: "[...] but what's the point of having them as citizens if they can't communicate and as soon as they don't interact with politics and society? It's not a question of racism, it's called pragmatism. And you also talk as if you didn't know that these people are desperate confused believing that by acquiring citizenship of micronations they can get some advantage in their personal lives. You're just making up an excuse to contradict!" Ultimately, the bill passed by 10 votes to 3, 1 abstention, and proceeded to the House of Aristocrats where the Worker's majority, unable to co-opt the only Republican Party member in the chamber, who abstained, failed to defeat the coalition formed between the Moderates and the Conservative, and the amendment was passed and immediately signed into law by His Majesty The King.