In the last decade, nearly 70,000 Indian citizens have surrendered their passports at regional passport offices (RPOs) across the country with eight states accounting for over 90 per cent of the surrendered documents.
The information provided under the Right to Information (RTI) Act doesn’t account the passports relinquished at Indian Embassies and High Commission abroad, rather only covers passports surrendered at RPOs.
As many as 40.45 per cent of the 69,303 passports that were given up in this period – from 2011 to 2022 – were surrendered at the RPO in Goa, reveals data shared by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in response to an RTI application filed by The Indian Express.
Of the 69,303 passports surrendered, Goa accounted for the highest number, followed by Punjab (including the UT of Chandigarh) where 13.79 per cent passports were surrendered.
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Among the eight states accounting for the highest number of surrendered passports, Gujarat stood third on the list followed by Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Delhi.
Under The Indian Citizenship Act, 1955, Persons of Indian Origin are not allowed dual citizenship. If a person has ever held an Indian passport and has obtained the passport of another country, they are required to immediately surrender their Indian passport.
The MEA data presented in the Lok Sabha shows that on an average, 11,422 Indians renounced their Indian citizenship every month since 2011. On the other hand, 482 Indian passports were surrendered on an average every month during this period at RPOs across India, reported The Indian Express.
A year-wise analysis of the passports surrendered at RPOs in India shows that only 239 passports were surrendered in 2011, but over the next two years, the numbers shot up – 11,492 in 2012 and 23,511 in 2013 – before settling in the 2,000-4,000 range over the next nine years.