The Naturalisations Committee ( nl, Commissie voor de Naturalisaties, french: Commission des Naturalisations) is a special
committee
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
of the
Belgian Chamber of Representatives
The Chamber of Representatives (Dutch: , french: link=no, Chambre des représentants, german: link=no, Abgeordnetenkammer) is one of the two chambers in the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Senate. It is considered ...
responsible for deciding upon applications for
naturalisation
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...
. In accordance with Article 9 of the
Belgian Constitution
The Constitution of Belgium ( nl, Belgische Grondwet, french: Constitution belge, german: Verfassung Belgiens) dates back to 1831. Since then Belgium has been a parliamentary monarchy that applies the principles of ministerial responsibility f ...
, which stipulates that naturalisation is granted by the
federal legislative power, and Article 74, which provides that only the Chamber of Representatives, and not the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
, is responsible for granting naturalisation.
The committee can decide to approve or reject the application, or to postpone the decision. In this case, the committee must request new advice before the final decision is made. In case an application is approved, the committee then forwards a naturalisation bill to the full Chamber, which must approve it in order for naturalisation to be granted. Once a naturalisation bill is signed and promulgated by the
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
, it is published in the
Belgian Official Journal. The applicant has the Belgian nationality from the date of publication in the Official Journal.
The Naturalisations Committee consists of 17 Representatives.
See also
*
Belgian nationality law
Belgian nationality law provides for the conditions in which a person holds Belgian nationality and is based on a mixture of the principles of ''jus sanguinis'' and ''jus soli''.
Belgian nationality is the status of being a citizen of Belgium. N ...
References
Committees of the Chamber of Representatives (Belgium)
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