In this Act-“alien” means a person who is not a citizen of Bangladesh or a Commonwealth citizen;

Every person born in Bangladesh after the commencement of this Act shall be a citizen of Bangladesh by birth:Provided that a person shall not be such a citizen by virtue of this section if at the time of his birth-(a) his father possesses such immunity from suit and legal process as is accorded to an envoy of an external sovereign power accredited in Bangladesh and is not a citizen of Bangladesh ; or(b) his father is an enemy alien and the birth occurs in a place then under occupation by the enemy.

Subject to the provisions of section 3 a person born after the commencement of this Act, shall be a citizen of Bangladesh by descent if his father or mother is a citizen of Bangladesh at the time of his birth:Provided that if the father or mother of such person is a citizen of Bangladesh by descent only, that person shall not be a citizen of Bangladesh by virtue of this section unless-(a) that person's birth having occurred in a country outside Bangladesh the birth is registered at a Bangladesh Consulate or Mission in that country, or where there is no Bangladesh Consulate or Mission in that country at the prescribed Consulate or Mission or at a Bangladesh Consulate or Mission in the country nearest to that country; or(b) that person's father or mother is, at the time of the birth, in the service of any Government in Bangladesh.

The Government may, upon an application made to it in that behalf by any person who has been granted a certificate of naturalisation under the Naturalisation Act, 1926, register that person as a citizen of Bangladesh by naturalisation:Provided that the Government may register any person as a citizen of Bangladesh without his having obtained a certificate of naturalisation as aforesaid.

(1) Any woman who by reason of her marriage to a British subject before the first day of January, 1949, has acquired the status of a British subject shall, if her husband becomes a citizen of Bangladesh, be a citizen of Bangladesh.

(2) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (1) and sub-section (4) a woman who has been married to a citizen of Bangladesh or to a person who but for his death would have been a citizen of Bangladesh under sections 3, 4 or 5 shall be entitled, on making application therefore to the Government in the prescribed manner, and, if she is an alien, on obtaining a certificate of domicile and taking the oath of allegiance in the form set out in the Schedule to this Act, to be registered as a citizen of Bangladesh whether or not she has completed twenty-one years of her age and is of full capacity.

(3) Subject as aforesaid, a woman who has been married to a person who, but for his death, could have been a citizen of Bangladesh under the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 6 (whether he migrated as provided in that sub-section or is deemed under the proviso to section 7 to have so migrated) shall be entitled as provided in sub-section (2) subject further, if she is an alien, to her obtaining the certificate and taking the oath therein mentioned.

(4) A person who has ceased to be a citizen of Bangladesh under section 14 or who has been deprived of citizenship of Bangladesh under this Act shall not be entitled to be registered as a citizen thereof under this section but may be so registered with the previous consent of the Government.

The Government may, upon his obtaining a certificate of domicile under this Act, register as a citizen of Bangladesh by migration any person who after the commencement of this Act and before the first day of January, 1952, has migrated to the territories now included in Bangladesh from any territory in the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent outside those territories, with the intention of residing permanently in those territories:
Provided that the Government may, by general or special order, exempt any person or class of persons from obtaining a certificate of domicile required under this sub-section.

(2) Registration granted under the preceding sub-section shall include, besides the person himself, his wife, if any, unless his marriage with her has been dissolved, and any minor child of his dependent whether wholly or partially upon him.