Nationality & Citizenship Bureau (Makko Oko)
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | July 2019 |
| Jurisdiction |  Makko Oko |
| Agency executive |
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| Parent agency | Ministry of Internal Security |
| Website | citizenship.gov.mk |
The Nationality & Citizenship Bureau, also referred to as the NCB, is a citizenship and immigration agency in the Empire Of Makko Oko. Its mission is to enforce immigration law and to regulate and manage the visas and citizenship programs of the Empire. The agency is under the Ministry Of Internal Security and was founded in July of 2019 after the end of the Civil Transition War to replace the former Naturalization Services Agency of the Republic.
History
The Nationality & Citizenship Bureau was formed to purge of the old staff of the Naturalization Services Agency, and Emperor Conall Solis led the transformation of immigration reform, modifying the system drastically from one of great opportunity and monthly lotteries to one of great restriction. One of the greatest controversies was the Mass Deportation of 2020, where over 6 million legal immigrants became illegal due to the reform and a mass revocation of visas, leading to all of them being deported unexpectedly.
Involvement In Mass Deportation
The Mass Deportation of 2020 event was one of the biggest controversies in immigration. The NCB became very heavily swamped within the days leading up to the arrests, which were conducted by soldiers of the Homeland Border Protectorate (HBP) agency in raids. Within a 1-week period, the NCB received over 4 million applications to "review immigration case" and over 1.5 million requesting permanent residency. Out of the total 5.5 million, only 2.7 million were assigned a case agent and put "under review" while processing their applications, and only 687,500 actually had their applications approved, the rest ended up deported.
At the time, NCB Director Eugene Driscoll said of the crisis, "The agency is doing everything it can with the resources given, to process these applications as speedily as possible". Legal analysts claimed that the lack of foundational law on immigration allowed the government and the NCB to not only abuse, but to also run things as they sought fit. It's reported that only 10 people got to be heard in a court of law prior to deportation.
Duties & Functions
The NCB processes immigrant visa petitions, naturalization applications, applications for permanent residency, applications for work permits and refugee applications. It also makes adjudicative decisions performed at NCB field offices, and manages all other immigration benefits functions. The NCB's other responsibilities include:
- Administration of immigration services and benefits
- Issuing employment authorization documents (EAD)
The NCB used to also handle asylum applications but now only handles status updates in regards to a decision made on the application. Asylum applications were taken over by the newly formed Asylum Claims Review Board under the Ministry Of Diplomatic Affairs soon after a revision was made to the Nationality & Travel Act.
