A total of 1.63 lakh Indians gave up their Indian citizenship last year, the most since 2015, and almost half of them i.e – 78,284 – decided to become US citizens. 1,63,370 Indians surrendered their nationality in 2021. In 2019 and 2020, this figure was 1,44,017 and 85,256, respectively.
These Indians gave up their citizenship for “personal reasons,” according to the ministry of home affairs (MHA), which also requires them to give up their Indian passport. Dual citizenship is not permitted under the Indian Constitution or the laws governing citizenship.
In response to a question from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Member of Parliament Haji Fazlur Rehman, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai provided data showing that, after the US, Indians preferred to obtain citizenship in Australia (23,533), Canada (21,597), the UK (14,637), Italy (5,987), New Zealand (2,643), and Singapore (2,516).
While there were 78,284 Indians who became citizens last year, there were 30,828 in 2020 and 61,683 in 2019. All of them had given up their Indian identity and were based in the US. Last year, 41 Indian citizens living in Pakistan also renounced their Indian citizenship, as opposed to seven in 2020.
Last year, about 326 Indians applied for citizenship in nations including Albania, France, Malta, Pakistan, Philippines, Portugal, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahrain, Belgium, Cyprus, Ireland, Grenada, Jordan, Mauritius, Norway, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, and Vanuatu after giving up their citizenship while living in the United Arab Emirates. In total, between 2015 and 2021, 9,32,276 Indians gave up their citizenship in favour of citizenship in other nations, according to official statistics presented to Parliament in February of last year and on Tuesday.
In addition, 10,645 foreign nationals filed for Indian citizenship between 2016 and 2020, with a maximum of 7,782 Pakistanis and 795 Afghans, according to figures released by the MHA in November 2021. Of these, the government gave Indian citizenship to 4,177 people.
According to the home ministry, 452 “stateless” individuals filed for Indian citizenship between 2016 and 2020, however it is unknown how many of them were granted citizenship or from which region they did so.
1,33,83,718 Indian nationals are presently residing abroad, according to data from the MHA from the previous year.
Due to a lack of regulations, a law the government introduced in 2019 to grant Indian citizenship to the six persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014 has not yet been put into effect. These minorities are Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi, and Christian.
