secret.simon wrote: ↑Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:58 pm
Came across this thread while researching on a related topic. Be it far from me to advise Indian authorities on Indian law, but I suggest that the advice in the FRRO's letter is incorrect. Not only that, but Indian courts have held that Indian citizenship follows from the provisions of the law (like PR and EU law) and
not from the holding of any specific document.
Here is a
(very poor) scan of the (Indian) Citizenship Act 1955 on the (Indian) Ministry of Home Affairs website.
The FRRO is quite correct in pointing out that a child can be born with multiple nationalities/citizenship, including Indian. That can arise in two ways;
a) A child born in India to one foreign parent and one Indian parent would have nationalities of both parents, depending on the legal provisions for citizenship for the countries of nationality of the foreign parent.
b) A child born in the UK to at least one parent with ILR/PR/British citizenship and one parent holding Indian citizenship (the parent holding Indian citizenship and ILR/PR can be the same parent), assuming that the child is registered with the Indian authorities within one year of birth.
However, what the FRRO did not pay attention to in their reply to you was Section 9 of the same Act.
9. Termination of citizenship. (1) Any citizen of India who by naturalisation, registration or otherwise voluntarily acquires, or has at any time between the 26th January, 1950 and the commencement of this Act voluntarily acquired, the citizenship of another country shall, upon such acquisition or, as the case may be, such commencement, cease to be a citizen of India:
Have a close look at the wordings of Section 8 (voluntary Renunciation of citizenship) and Section 9 (involuntary/automatic Termination of citizenship). Voluntary renunciation can only be done by an Indian citizen "of full age and capacity". Involuntary termination has no restriction on age; i.e. any Indian citizen's, including a minor child's, Indian citizenship is terminated automatically by force/action of law on their registration as a foreign citizen.
In addition, the Wikipedia article on Indian citizenship law notes;
Rule 3 of
Schedule III of the Citizenship Rules, 1956 states that "the fact that a citizen of India has obtained on any date a passport from the Government of any other country shall be conclusive proof of his/her having voluntarily acquired the citizenship of that country before that date". Again, this rule applies even if the foreign passport was obtained for the child by his or her parents... It does not matter that a person continues to hold an Indian passport.
This rule seemingly even applies if the foreign nationality was automatically had from birth, and thus not voluntarily acquired after birth. Persons who acquire another citizenship lose Indian citizenship from the date on which they acquire that citizenship or another country's passport.
My assessment is that the FRRO's advice is correct only if two specific conditions are met;
a) the child is born with multiple citizenships, including Indian (see above) and has not acquired foreign citizenship by a subsequent action of either the parents or themselves (i.e. they have not acquired foreign citizenship by registration or naturalisation or a post-birth action of their parents).
b) the child does not hold a foreign passport (so, the child having an Indian passport with CoE-RoA is fine, but a British passport is not).
If the two conditions above are met, the child can hold Indian citizenship till they reach the age of 18. They then have 6 months to decide whether to renounce their foreign citizenships/nationalities or let their Indian citizenship lapse.
In light of the information above, can I request you (the OP) to write to the FRRO again, highlighting my points above and getting a confirmation in writing that they stand by their earlier advice and if not, to provide a more fully considered and thorough answer.
