03-03-2005, 02:49 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Brake on dual citizenship </b>
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, March 1: The government has put grant of overseas citizenship on hold.
The home ministry that drafted amendments permitting overseas citizenship â or dual citizenship, as it is euphemistically referred to â in the citizenship act says it will need to amend the law again to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singhâs expectations. Till the process is complete, the ministry has no intention of working on applications received during the three months the scheme was on.
<b>âPending a review, we have issued instructions to foreign missions to stop accepting applications for overseas citizenship last month,â</b> an official said. He explained that when the fresh review was over, overseas citizenship would be more user-friendly.
Officials suggest that the revised law might not be anywhere near getting past Parliament before the monsoon session. âThe review of the law and the rules is under active consideration of the government,â the official said.
Dual citizenship was allowed in December 2003 after an amendment to the act.
In principle, the home ministry is inclined to a single application form rather than the three forms that persons of Indian origin would have to choose from, depending on their age and the clause of the law under which they are applying.
But there are no clear answers to why it took the Prime Ministerâs intervention to drive home that realisation or the fact that the criteria for overseas citizenship was too restrictive to make a difference to anyone in the first place. <b>For instance, under the existing law, only people who relinquished their Indian citizenship after the 2003 amendment were eligible to seek overseas citizenship.</b>
Prime Minister Singh had declared at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas this January that dual citizenship would be extended to all Indians who migrated after January 26, 1950.
In doing so, he had not only covered Indians who left before the 2003 amendment but also expanded the list of countries where people who surrendered their Indian passports lived.
Now, Indians living only in 16 countries, including the US and the Britain, are covered.
<b>Some officials suggest that part of the problem in the restrictive regime was the confusion within the government on the status of the overseas citizens.</b>
After the 2003 amendment, the government appears to have taken the view that overseas citizenship did not amount to a second citizenship.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, March 1: The government has put grant of overseas citizenship on hold.
The home ministry that drafted amendments permitting overseas citizenship â or dual citizenship, as it is euphemistically referred to â in the citizenship act says it will need to amend the law again to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singhâs expectations. Till the process is complete, the ministry has no intention of working on applications received during the three months the scheme was on.
<b>âPending a review, we have issued instructions to foreign missions to stop accepting applications for overseas citizenship last month,â</b> an official said. He explained that when the fresh review was over, overseas citizenship would be more user-friendly.
Officials suggest that the revised law might not be anywhere near getting past Parliament before the monsoon session. âThe review of the law and the rules is under active consideration of the government,â the official said.
Dual citizenship was allowed in December 2003 after an amendment to the act.
In principle, the home ministry is inclined to a single application form rather than the three forms that persons of Indian origin would have to choose from, depending on their age and the clause of the law under which they are applying.
But there are no clear answers to why it took the Prime Ministerâs intervention to drive home that realisation or the fact that the criteria for overseas citizenship was too restrictive to make a difference to anyone in the first place. <b>For instance, under the existing law, only people who relinquished their Indian citizenship after the 2003 amendment were eligible to seek overseas citizenship.</b>
Prime Minister Singh had declared at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas this January that dual citizenship would be extended to all Indians who migrated after January 26, 1950.
In doing so, he had not only covered Indians who left before the 2003 amendment but also expanded the list of countries where people who surrendered their Indian passports lived.
Now, Indians living only in 16 countries, including the US and the Britain, are covered.
<b>Some officials suggest that part of the problem in the restrictive regime was the confusion within the government on the status of the overseas citizens.</b>
After the 2003 amendment, the government appears to have taken the view that overseas citizenship did not amount to a second citizenship.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->