The Ministry of Home Affairs has introduced stricter citizenship rules requiring applicants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh to declare and surrender their passports.
According to the notification, applicants seeking Indian citizenship under the Citizenship Rules, 2009 must disclose details of any valid or expired passports issued by these countries. They must provide passport numbers, place and date of issue, and expiry dates. Officials said the move addresses cases where applicants retained expired or invalid foreign passports, which Indian law does not permit.
The revised rules mandate that applicants surrender such passports within 15 days of receiving Indian citizenship. The provision, inserted as paragraph (iiiA) in Schedule IC of the 2009 rules, obliges applicants to declare possession of foreign passports and hand them over to the Senior Superintendent of Post or Superintendent of Post concerned.
The notification also highlights broader reforms under the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2026. These include fully digital Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) applications, electronic records, biometric consent, and the introduction of electronic OCI cards alongside physical ones. The ministry described the changes as a step toward a paperless identity system for overseas Indians.
The rules build on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), enacted in 2019, which eases citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who faced religious persecution.
