Applications for citizenship increase in occupied territories.
Department for Border Security and Immigration documents 7,000 applications for Kazulian citizenship by Hulstrians in occupied territory.
Statsminister Robert Nordmark addresses members of the Stortinget following the nation's entrance into a ceasefire negotiation.
8th June, 4266
The Department for Border Security and Immigration announced that it was in the process of reviewing applications for citizenship mainly by individuals from within the occupied territories. Departmental Director, Markku Hemilä announced the occurrence before members of the department's administrative board. According to Hemilä, the applications hail from individuals of the Gao-Showan and Draddwyr ethnic groups. The Hulstrian Government's legislations and regulations aimed against the Gao-Showan ethnic group has been highlighted as the possible reason for the increased number of citizenship applications by individuals of the specific ethnic group. Citing statistics from the period posterior to the introduction of the Citizens' Classification Act, applications for citizenship by individuals of Gao-Showan decent were recorded to be around 1,100 annually. This was due to the fact that the previous administrations in Skalm had blocked travel to the nation and had increased the requirements necessary for citizenship applications from persons hailing from Hulstria.
According to Hemilä, the majority of applications were filed by Gao-Showan youths and middle aged individuals, who connections to their Mikuni-Hulstrian connection had been marred in violence and discrimination. Since the War for the Emperor's Protection, the Kunihitos (a branch of the Gao-Showan ethnicity) have openly sworn allegiance to the Emperor and the greater cause of the Mikokuzin sector. With these cultures being actively stomped out/suppressed by previous and incumbent regimes in Hulstria in-order to bolster the ethnic density of the "pure Hulstrian" and "Hulstro-Showans", the Kunihitos feel as though their deeply established cultural identity is being wiped from the history books in order to make room for that of the "pure" Hulstrian culture. A report from the National Institute for Religious and Cultural Research accentuated the fact that the tendencies of the Gao-Showan ethnicity in calling individuals who had cooperated with the Kazulian government "puppets of the northern invaders", had in fact changed following the Kazulian government's openness to accepting them into the nation.
Minister of Home and Kingdom Affairs, Marcus Gunderson announced that he had given the Department for Border Security and Immigration instructions to undergo the vetting process to ensure the applicants have met the requirements to become citizens of the nation. According to the National Passports Office, the applicants are subject to visa requirements as the two nations (Kazulia and Hulstria) are not within any formal agreement enabling independence of a visa when applying for citizenship in either of the two nations. It is expected that as time progresses the number of applications would increase with the gradually deteriorating situation in Hulstria.