The Fiji Immigration Department approved 857 applications for dual citizenship between July 2009 and July this year. The dual citizenship status was granted under the Citizenship Decree which came into effect in April 2009.
Government says many of those that have been granted dual citizenship have invested in property, farming and tourism developments. The Department received a total of 1054 citizenship applications between July 2009 to July 2010.
The Decree allows for any child, spouse and former Fiji citizen to apply for citizenship by registration and also allows foreigners who are working, investing or residing in Fiji for the last ten years to apply for Fiji citizenship by naturalization. Government says the concept was introduced to allow those that have left Fiji to return and re-invest in the country.