10,645 foreigners applied for Indian citizenship from 2016 to 2020, says Centre
More than six lakh Indians renounced citizenship in the past five years, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. This year, till September 30, 1,11,287 Indians gave up their citizenship.
The reason for a large number of Indians surrendering their citizenship was not stated in the reply. Though, in 2018, the MHA revised Form XXII under Citizenship Rules for declaration of renunciation of citizenship, which, for the first time, included a column on “circumstances/reasons due to which applicant intends to acquire foreign citizenship and renounce Indian citizenship”. Recently, the MHA had simplified the process and provisions were made for the applicants to upload documents online and an upper limit of 60 days was fixed for the renunciation process to be completed.