AHMEDABAD: Official government data reveals that approximately 22,000 individuals from Gujarat chose to renounce their Indian citizenship over the past nine years between 2014-22. On August 10, 2023, Member of Parliament Sushil Kumar Modi raised a question in the Rajya Sabha regarding the number of people in India who had voluntarily surrendered their passports over the past decade.
In response to this inquiry, the Indian External Affairs Department provided data indicating that within the last ten years, 22,300 individuals in Gujarat had surrendered their passports, effectively giving up their Indian citizenship.
Delhi recorded the highest number of passport surrenders in India, with 60,414 individuals relinquishing their passports during the same period. Punjab followed with 28,117 passport surrenders, and Gujarat ranked third with 22,300 individuals surrendering their passports.
Conversely, regions such as Andaman & Nicobar had the lowest number of passport surrenders, with only 16 individuals giving up their passports in the previous decade. Following closely were Lakshadweep and Daman Diu, with 33 passport surrenders, and Sikkim, with 34 individuals surrendering their passports.
Intriguingly, despite the increase in passport surrenders, the total number of people renouncing Indian citizenship more than doubled over the last eleven years. In 2011, the Ministry of External Affairs reported that 1,22,819 individuals had renounced Indian citizenship, a number that surged to 2,25,620 by 2022. Shockingly, the data indicates that over 17.50 lakh people have given up their Indian citizenship since 2011.
If a person has ever held an Indian passport and has obtained the passport of another country, they will be required to surrender their Indian passport immediately after gaining another country’s nationality. After renunciation of Indian citizenship, it is necessary to apply for surrender or a renunciation certificate.
Despite the alarming stories of illegal immigration and their tragic consequences making headlines in Gujarat, the collective spirit of Gujarat’s villages remains undeterred. Heart-wrenching incidents, such as the discovery of individuals frozen to death near the Canada-US border in January 2022 or drowning of three Indians in the St. Lawrence River in April 2023, shed light on challenges of illegal immigration.