Citizenship Rule Change: Passport Declaration Now Mandatory

Top Summary

• What happened: India amends citizenship rules requiring passport declaration from specific applicants.
• Why it matters: Ensures compliance and accurate applicant information.
• What changes for people: Applicants must declare passport status and surrender passports if application approved.
• Who is affected: Afghan, Bangladeshi, and Pakistani citizenship applicants under 2009 rules.

Passport Declaration Mandatory

The Home Ministry has amended the Citizenship Rules, 2009.

Applicants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh seeking Indian citizenship now need to declare their passport status.

This declaration is mandatory according to a recent notification.

New Requirements for Applicants

The amended rules specify that applicants should not possess a valid or expired passport from their country of origin.

If an applicant possesses an active passport, they must provide details such as the passport number, date and place of issuance, and expiry date.

They must also make a declaration.

Passport Surrender Deadline

Applicants must declare that they will surrender their passport if citizenship is granted.

The passport must be surrendered to the Senior Superintendent of Post or Superintendent of Post within 15 days of application approval.

This applies to both valid and expired passports.

Applicability of the Amended Rule

The new rules apply to nationals from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

Specifically, those belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian communities seeking Indian citizenship are impacted.

These applicants are covered under Schedule IC of the Citizenship Rules.

Background: Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 facilitates Indian nationality.

It applies to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who entered India before December 31, 2014.

These migrants must be from Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi, or Christian communities.

What to Watch Next

Future scrutiny of citizenship applications will likely focus on verifying passport information. Monitoring the implementation of these amended rules and their impact on application processing times will be crucial.