India’s Citizenship Act from 1955 has until recently been interpreted in such a way that any Indians gaining another citizenship had to renounce their Indian nationality and surrender their passport, with their children automatically losing Indian citizenship too.
Now, a new Office Memorandum from the Ministry of External Affairs has clarified how the act should be interpreted – not only with regards to children losing their Indian citizenship, but also when it comes to adults becoming citizens of another country.
According to the new memorandum, Indians no longer need to renounce their citizenship once they have gained citizenship of another country – the process happens automatically.
“As prescribed u/s 8(1) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 Any ‘Citizen of India’ of full age and capacity can renounce Indian citizenship,” it reads.
Indeed, even if they wanted to renounce Indian citizenship, the mere act of becoming a citizen of another country means they are no longer eligible to do so.
“Accordingly, those foreign nationals of Indian Origin who have already acquired citizenship of any other country are not eligible to renounce their citizenship. In fact, their citizenship has already been terminated… by acquiring citizenship of other country,” it continues.
The website of the Indian Embassy in Sweden confirms this, where a page on renunciation states that “if an applicant has already been issued a naturalisation certificate/passport by another country, the applicant loses his Indian Citizenship with immediate effect and hence is ineligible to apply for Renunciation of Indian Citizenship under Section 8 of the Indian Citizenship Act.”
Be aware, however, that you will need to hand in any documents related to your Indian citizenship, such as your passport or voter card. This is a separate service to renunciation. There is more information available on the Indian Embassy’s website. You will receive a passport surrender certificate once the process is complete.
The embassy further adds that a certificate of renunciation is no longer a mandatory document needed when applying for an OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) card.
Member comments