Renouncing Indian Citizenship: Understanding the New Simplified Process
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in India has introduced a simpler process for its citizens intending to renounce their nationality. In this context, we will explore the provisions made and discuss the constitutional aspects of citizenship in India.
The Revised Renunciation Process
To relinquish their citizenship, Indians had to go through a rigorous, paperwork-heavy process earlier. Still, MHA has now eased this by introducing an online document upload system. The new process stipulates a maximum of 60 days for the complete renunciation procedure. A significant number of Indians – around 6.7 lakh – have surrendered their citizenship between 2015 and 2019.
An additional column has been included in the citizenship form since 2018 where the applicant has to state their reasons for wanting to gain foreign citizenship and renounce Indian citizenship, as per the Citizenship Rules, 2009.
Citizenship in the Indian Constitution
Citizenship, as per the Indian constitution, falls under the Union List, meaning it is solely under Parliament’s jurisdiction. The constitution does not define ‘citizen’ explicitly but elaborates on various categories of persons entitled to citizenship in Part 2, Articles 5 to 11. Interestingly, these articles were enforced even before other constitutional provisions, on November 26, 1949, when the constitution was adopted.
Acquiring Indian Citizenship
The 1955 Citizenship Act lists five ways one can acquire Indian citizenship: birth, descent, registration, naturalization, and incorporation of territory. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, further modified this law to expedite citizenship for religious minorities, specifically Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan who entered India before 2015. For naturalization, the residency requirement was reduced from 11 years to five years.
Renouncing Indian Citizenship
There are three ways one can renounce their Indian citizenship: Voluntary renunciation, termination, and deprivation by the government. Voluntary renunciation allows any Indian, of full age and capacity, to relinquish his/her citizenship willingly. However, if a person does this, their minor children also lose their Indian nationality but can regain it once they turn 18.
India follows the principle of single citizenship, meaning a citizen cannot hold dual citizenship. Thus, if an Indian becomes a citizen of another country, their Indian citizenship is automatically terminated. However, this provision does not apply during times of war.
Deprivation by government states that the government can revoke a citizen’s rights if they disrespect the Constitution, obtain citizenship fraudulently, engage in unlawful activities with the enemy during a war, or have been sentenced to imprisonment for two years in any country within five years of registration or naturalization. This provision also applies if a citizen has been living outside India continuously for seven years.