The
Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO
International) acknowledges with gratitude the substantial
achievement realized with remarkably quick action when the
government of India issued a clarification on June 1, 2010
"that PIOs will not be asked to pay any renunciation charges".
There
still remained valid issues that needed prompt remedial action
by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) and the
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). For this reason, GOPIO had
continued its appeal to the Government of India on behalf the
global Indian community in pursuit of fairness and equitable
treatment of those Indians who have become citizens of other
countries. These concerns include lost, misplaced or missing
passports, substantiation documents, surrender forms, fees and
cut-off dates. GOPIO has brought these concerns to the
attention of Hon. Vayalar Ravi, Minister of MOIA.
We
are pleased to announce that the following communiqué from
Dr.
A. Didar Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs
(MOIA)
has substantially resolved the matter and eased the burden
previously placed on Indians who acquired citizenship of other
countries.
*****************
From:
Dr.
A. Didar Singh
Ministry
of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA)
Date:
Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 1:11 AM
Subject: passport surrender
issue
D.O.No.OI-15014/02/2009-DS 11th
June 2010
Dear
Overseas Indian,
This
Ministry received a large number of representations from PIOs,
particularly in the U.S.A., protesting the recent circulars
hosted on the websites of our Missions in the US regarding the
levy of registration charges for 'declaration of renunciation
of Indian Citizenship' and the imposition of penalties for
delayed surrender or non-surrender of Indian passports last
held by them. Some of these representations and
petitions were also addressed to the Hon'ble Minister for
Overseas Indian Affairs, as also the Hon'ble Prime
Minister.
2.
I write this to inform you that in appreciation of the
sentiments expressed in many of these representations and
petitions, I had taken up the issues raised therein with the
Ministry of Home Affairs (which administers the Citizenship
Act and the Rules made thereunder, which provide for the levy
of a fee of Rs.7000/- for registration of a declaration of
renunciation of Indian citizenship by a PIO) and the Ministry
of External Affairs (which administers the Passport Act and
Rules, which provide for penalties for delayed surrender or
non-surrender of Indian passports last held by PIOs, as also
their misuse).
3.
I am glad to report that following my demarche
interventions MHA had issued a circular communication on
01.06.2010, clarifying that the fee of Rs.7000/- for
registration of a 'declaration of renunciation of Indian
citizenship' will only be charged from PIOs, who intend to
acquire foreign nationality/citizenship in future and those
who have already acquired such foreign citizenship in the
past, will, by virtue of Section 9 of the Citizenship Act,
1955, cease to be Indian citizens forthwith, upon such
acquisition of foreign citizenship and they will not be
required to make such a 'declaration of renunciation of Indian
citizenship'.
4.
As regards the surrender of Indian passports last held by such
PIOs, it has been clarified by MEA vide their circular
letter dated 03.05.2010 [para 2(viii)] that there would be no
need to surrender a passport which expired before
2005.
5.
I trust with these clarifications issued by MHA and MEA, the
grievance expressed by you PIOs, stands redressed.
*
With
regards,
Yours
sincerely,
Sd/-
Dr.
A. Didar Singh)
Copy
to: JS(PMO), JS(CPV), JS(Foreigners), MHA
All
Indian Missions in US (Washington, NY, Chicago, San Francisco,
Houston)
HCI,
London
***************
Earlier
GOPIO had sent a letter to Minsiter Vayalar Ravi on the
remaining issues of Indian Passport Surrender, parts of which
are reproduced below:
However,
there are still valid issues that need prompt remedial action
by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and the Ministry of
External Affairs. These concerns include the following which
need to be addressed in a timely and equitable
manner:
1.
A large majority of the people of Indian Origin who have
become citizens of other countries did not have any use for
their old Indian passports and may have lost, misplaced or
never kept in their possession after acquiring citizenship of
other countries. Those who still have their passports
have no problem in surrendering their old passports to obtain
Surrender Certificate. But those who do not have their
passports with them are required to 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.
The
production of items 1 and 2 above
will not be easy and could take months to obtain from the
local or regional immigration authorities.
There
are many people who have had long term visas for India but do
not have the old Indian passport with them. When their Indian
visa comes up for renewal, although renewed earlier multiple
times and visited India several times, they will not be able
to renew it. In this category, there are people who visit
India to meet relatives, to oversee the philanthropic projects
they have initiated and/or attend/participate in international
meets, such as PBD. We make the following suggestions in this
respect:
·
For
People of Indian Origin who have been citizens of their
adopted countries for over ten years, the validity of
their Indian passports which they had at the time of obtaining
citizenship of the new countries had long expired. Their
obsolete passports cannot be used in anyway and should no
longer present security risks. The Government of India should
relax the current rigid requirement and consider asking for
the following documents to obtain Surrender Certificate:
1.
Affidavit
giving details of the passport and reasons for loss.
2.
Police
report, if necessary.
2.
As per Section 9 of Indian Citizenship Act 1955, "Any
citizen of India who by naturalization, registration or
otherwise voluntarily acquires the citizenship of another
country shall cease to be a citizen of India." Indian
citizenship is thus automatically terminated on acquiring US
citizenship. Therefore, Indians in the USA do not have dual
citizenship of India and of USA.
Indian
Consulates require applicants for "Surrender Certificate" to
submit "Renunciation of Indian citizenship" Form which starts
with "Declaration of Renunciation of citizenship made by a
citizen of India who is also a citizen or national of another
country." Item 3 of the Form talks about the acquisition of US
citizenship while item 4 talks of renouncing of Indian
citizenship.
Item
6 on the form says, "I ------------------------ do
solemnly and sincerely declare that the foregoing particulars
stated in this declaration are true and I make this solemn
declaration conscientiously believing the same to be
true."
Anyone
signing the current form to renounce Indian citizenship is
doing so incorrectly and maybe doing so illegally as well.
What is being asked amounts to surrendering something which a
person does not have. We suggest that a simple "Surrender of
Indian Passport Form" be designed for the purpose of surrender
of Indian passport after acquisition of citizenship of the
country of immigrant's domicile.
3.
The service fee of $175 USD for Passport Surrender Certificate
is unreasonably high and should be reduced to a reasonable
amount. Doing so would preserve the loyalty of Indians who
have acquired citizenship of other countries and would go a
long way to remove the impression that the Government of India
is gouging NRIs and PIOs.
4.
Many people have paid the fee of $175 and penalty of $250 to
obtain his/her surrender certificate prior to June 1, 2010. It
may be administrative inconvenience to give refund but it will
continue to be source of anger in the minds of many people and
somewhat tarnish years of goodwill built by the mutual healthy
relationship between India and its Diaspora.
Timely
attention is required to address these outstanding issues in a
fair and equitable manner. Indians who have become citizens of
other countries must not be made to feel that the Government
of India is preying on them. Such negative feeling could
diminish their loyalty and continuing support for their
motherland.
*****************
We
at GOPIO International acknowledge the efforts of Ministry of
Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) and Ministry of External
Affairs (MEA) to respond to our concerns promptly and take
remedial action as noted above. We also acknowledge and
appreciate the overwhelming support from the global Indian
community from all corners of the world. We are convinced that
this massive level of support made a tremendous difference in
the outcome of our appeals, as we will continue to monitor and
seek redress on issues and concerns affecting the global
Indian community.