NEW DELHI: Bowing to tens of thousands Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO International) petitioners over submission of old passports and “renunciation charges”, the government of India has backtracked and withdrawn the notification, say media reports.
Penalty charges for retaining a passport despite acquiring foreign citizenship for over three years have also been waived off.
PIOs had begun an online petition to protest against a notification by the ministry of external affairs (MEA) issued on May 13 that mandated that PIOs who had acquired citizenship of other countries would have to surrender their old passports and there would be a penalty of Rs 10,000 for retaining the passport for above three years. The new order also said that Rs 7,000 would be charged if applicants for overseas citizen card or PIO card claimed that their passport was lost or misplaced.
The government has now issued a clarification that PIOs will not be asked to pay any renunciation charges. The ministry of home affairs (MHA) has informed Indian embassies that the order will hold only for those Indian citizens who are in the process of acquiring foreign citizenship and will not be applied with retrospective effect. The other concern was that PIOs may have to pay Rs 10,000 for just possessing an old passport. This has also been addressed. The penalty charges will only apply if the PIO — who is already a foreign citizen — uses his or her old passport for travelling or buying property or other uses that are considered illegal under Indian law.
The decision was taken in a meeting held by overseas Indian affairs secretary Didar Singh with senior officials from MHA and MEA on May 26.
One petitioner, in his comments posted on this website had said that when he got the PIO card he was told by the Consulate officials that there was no need to surrender the passport then why they are imposing penalty for not doing so.
The New York based-Global Organisation of PIOs (GOPIO) in its online petition to PM Manmohan Singh pointed out that imposition of a rule with retrospective effect could cause “unimaginable hardship” in thousands of cases. “A large majority of new citizens did not have any use for their old Indian passports and may have lost, misplaced or never kept in their possession after naturalization,” the petition said. PIOs have expressed concern that this would cause delay in getting visas and visiting India in emergency situations.
The overseas Indian affairs ministry had also issued a new set of guidelines by which those PIOs who do not have primary evidence — that is documents to prove their Indian citizenship or proof of being born/or parents or even grandparents having been born in India — have now been allowed secondary evidence. Secondary evidence includes passports of foreign countries indicating that India is the place of birth or any other documents including a “nativity certificate” issued by the state district collector
The earlier notice posted on the website of several Indian embassies and consulates stipulated that Persons of Indian Origin who have acquired citizenship of other countries are required to surrender their Indian passports within 90 days of their acquisition of citizenship of the countries of their adoption and obtain ‘Surrender Certificate’ from the nearest Indian Consulate. There should not be any objection in surrendering the old Indian passport. However, the new rules should not be applied retroactively. Retroactive enforcement of the new rules and requiring people of Indian origin who got citizenship of other countries years ago, to obtain “surrender Certificate” by paying hefty service fee and penalty for not surrendering within certain time is a rule that is unwarranted, burdensome and not well thought out. In the meantime, a person of Indian origin applying for an Indian visa, OCI/PIO card or wanting other consular services is denied any such service without complying with the new rules.
Per Section 9 of the Citizenship Act 1955, “Any citizen of India who by naturalization, registration or otherwise voluntarily acquires, or has at any time between the 26th January, 1950 and the commencement of this Act voluntarily acquired, the citizenship of another country shall, upon such acquisition or, as the case may be, such commencement, cease to be a citizen of India.” Thus, Indians who have acquired citizenship of other countries are covered under Section 9 and their Indian citizenship is automatically terminated on acquiring citizenship of another country. The same Act has provisions for renouncing citizenship of India. Per Section 8, “any citizen of India of full age and capacity, who is also a citizen or national of another country, makes in the prescribed manner a declaration renouncing his Indian citizenship, the declaration shall be registered by the prescribed authority; and, upon such registration, that person shall cease to be a citizen of India.” Renunciation of citizenship has to be applied on a prescribed form, while automatic termination of citizenship, covered under Section 9, requires no formal application to the Indian government.
There are a few millions of people who have obtained citizenship of other countries over the last fifty five years, since the passage of Indian Citizenship Act 1955. The Indian Passport does not contain any instruction for surrender (per Passport issued in 1974 by Indian Consulate in the US) except the ones issued by the High Commission of India in Canada which stamps passports with warning that states, “If the holder acquires nationality of another country, he should surrender this passport forthwith to the nearest Indian Mission abroad.” Many of the former Indian citizens have been travelling to India on passports of countries of their adoption but with Indian visas granted by the same consulates whose websites now have postings of new rules. If the law or rules did exist in the past, Indian embassies and consulates everywhere should have asked for the surrender of Indian passports before granting Indian visas for the first time to Persons of Indian Origin who had acquired citizenship of other countries. Requiring surrender of Indian passports after the lapse of many years of acquisition of such citizenship, would cause undue hardship and delay in getting consular services.
The new rules also require that an applicant who has lost, damaged or surrendered his/her Indian passport to a foreign Government, he/she should furnish certified copies of the following documents:
Details of last held Indian passport (Passport No., Date of Issue & Place of issue). The onus of providing details rest on the applicant.
- Official documents submitted to authorities of new country at the time of obtaining citizenship/naturalization & documents used for entry such as US Form I -130.
- Notarized letter explaining reasons for loss.
- Police report.
A large majority of the new citizens did not have any use for their old Indian passports and may have lost, misplaced or never kept in their possession after naturalization. The production of items 1 and 2 above, in particular, will not be easy and could take months to obtain from the immigration authorities. In the meantime, consular services will not be available to visit the mother country, even for emergency situations.
The Government of India is urged to reconsider the retroactive enforcement of the new rules as many thousands of people who have acquired citizenship of other countries could suffer undue and unnecessary hardship for no fault of their own. Indians who have been naturalized for years should be given the same 90 days to obtain “surrender certificate” as being allowed to those Indians who become citizens of other countries now and heretofore, without fees and penalties. The minimum service fee of $175 (USD) for the surrender certificate is also very high and should be reduced to a reasonable amount of $25 (USD).
GOPIO urges Indian community groups, organizations and individuals to join in protesting against the new rules by writing to the Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) at psfs@mea.gov.in and Secretary Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) at secretary@moia.nic.in with a copy to GOPIO at GOPIO-Intl@sbcglobal.net.
For more information, please contact GOPIO International at +1-818-708-3885, Email: GOPIO-Intl@sbcglobal.net.
