The Centre has amended India’s citizenship rules, making it mandatory for applicants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to declare details of any valid or expired passports issued by their home countries while seeking Indian citizenship under the Citizenship Rules, 2009

According to a notification issued by the Union Home Ministry, applicants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities from the three neighbouring countries will now have to formally state whether they possess any passport issued by Pakistan, Afghanistan or Bangladesh. 

Under the revised rules, those holding such passports must provide complete details including passport number, date and place of issue, and expiry date. They will also be required to surrender the passport within 15 days of approval of their Indian citizenship application. 

The amendment has been inserted into Schedule IC of the Citizenship Rules, 2009 through a newly added provision known as paragraph (iiiA). Officials said the move is aimed at improving documentation, verification and record-keeping in citizenship cases involving migrants from the three countries. 

The rule change is linked to the implementation framework of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, which provides a path to Indian citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered India before December 31, 2014. 

Government officials indicated that the amendment was introduced after authorities found instances where applicants continued to retain passports issued by their original countries even after applying for Indian citizenship. India does not permit dual citizenship, making surrender of foreign passports a mandatory requirement. 

The latest notification follows a broader set of recent citizenship and OCI reforms introduced by the Home Ministry, including digitised application systems, electronic OCI cards and stricter compliance requirements for documentation and identity verification. 

The move is expected to primarily affect minority communities from the three neighbouring countries who migrated to India citing religious persecution and are currently seeking legal citizenship status under the CAA framework. 

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