After getting citizenship in March this year, British national Helen Frances Holt now has a Bangladeshi passport.
“I am very happy. I want to take my last breath as well as buried here as I love this country very much,” said the 88-year-old, who has been living in Bangladesh for the last 58 years.
The passport was issued on Jun 25 but was handed over on Friday by Commerce Ministry’s Joint Shafique Zaman at Lucy’s residence at Oxford Mission Church in Barisal city.
Lucy Holt was born in St Helens, England on December 16, 1930.
She arrived in Bangladesh in 1960 and joined the Oxford Mission Church in Barishal.
Sister Holt was mesmerized by Bangladesh’s natural beauty and its people and chose to spend the rest of her life here.
A witness of Bangladesh’s War of Independence in 1971, she treated wounded freedom fighters and people during the war.
She went on retirement from the mission's services in 2004. But she still remains busy to serve people, especially the poor and children.
Lucy was recently finding it difficult to pay the annual fee of Tk 35,000 to renew her visa to live in Bangladesh.
Responding to an application submitted by Sister Holt in December last year, the home ministry on Feb 1 issued a letter to the director general of the Department of Immigration and Passports, ordering extension of her visa for the next 15 years without any visa fee.
On Feb 8, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, during her visit in Barishal, handed over the British passport of Lucy Holt with a 15-year multiple-entry Bangladesh visa without any visa fee.
Finally, on Mar 31, she was handed over the citizenship certificate by Hasina at her official residence the Ganabhaban.