What are the Requirements for Citizenship in India?

The issue of possessing citizenship has been discussed broadly in two places. In the Citizenship Act and the Constitution of India from articles 5-11. Both of these are explained in detail below.

The Citizenship Amendment Act, 1955

It states that "a person born in India or having Indian parentage, or having resided in India for at least eleven years is eligible for Indian citizenship."

This act throws a veritable amount of light on certain important criteria that are necessary to fulfill when one's possession of Indian citizenship is concerned. The act predominantly includes answers to three questions which are

• Who can be a citizen of India?
• What are the ways to obtain citizenship in India?
• And lastly, how can a person lose Indian Citizenship?

During the partition of India, a wide number of Hindus and Muslims migrated to and from Pakistan which created a lot of refugees. This led to the rise in demands for acquiring citizenship.

The Citizenship Act was passed by the Indian parliament on 3rd December 1955.

The citizenship act talks about 5 ways of acquisition of citizenship and 3 ways of loss of the same.

Acquisition-

• Birth
• Descent
• Registration
• Incorporation
• Naturalization

Loss-

• Renunciation
• Termination
• Deprivation

Comprehending ways of losing citizenship is quite easy but understanding how a person attains citizenship is pretty difficult and equally important, especially in the process of naturalization.

You may also be interested in: The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019

Acquisition of Citizenship in India

Citizenship by birth- This is the first mode of acquisition which is also known as Section 3. This section offers citizenship based on birth, the most important criterion being, that one should have been born in India.

• People born in India after 26th January 1950 were automatically granted citizenship regardless of whether their parents were Indian or not. However, this was soon discarded after 1st July 1987 because illegal immigrants and refugees coming from countries surrounding India also were getting problematic citizenship.
• 1st July 1987 this amendment said that whoever takes birth in India after this date having at least one Indian parent will be granted citizenship.
• 3^rd December 2003 currently the law of the land says that if your birthplace is India and both your parents are Indian or one of the parents is Indian and the other one is not an illegal immigrant then you will be given citizenship by birth

Who is an Illegal Immigrant?

Section 21B of the citizenship act defines an illegal immigrant. It says that if any traveler comes to India without any valid passport or any valid traveling document, or if he has entered India through a valid passport but has exceeded his stay in India beyond the period, he was permitted, will be known as an illegal immigrant.

4 Ways a Person Can Acquire Indian Citizenship

1. Citizenship by Descent -

Also known as Section 4. It says that anyone who is born after 26th January 1950, outside of India will be given Indian Citizenship if his father is an Indian.

• 10th December 1992- The amendment was made after taking into consideration the discrimination against women, focusing on gender equality, the law changed to, if either mother or father is an Indian citizen, the person will be granted citizenship.
• 3rd December 2004 - Currently functioning law, that says a person who is born after this date outside of India will be given citizenship, only if his parents approach that country's Indian consulate and get their child registered as an Indian citizen, by this undertaking they confirm that their minor does not have any other country's passport

2. Citizenship By Registration-

Section 5

Category-specific process, "category" being PIO (Persons of Indian Origin) which means a person who was born or whose parents were born in undivided India or British India, or whose parents are born on that territory of India which has been included as a part of India after 15th August 1947.

If a person belonging to this category, submits an application to the central government asking for citizenship, he will be given citizenship.

3. Citizenship By Naturalisation-

The most important mode, also known as Section 6.

If a person submits an application to the central government for registration of Indian citizenship, it will be considered only if the person has the following qualifications

• Not a subject of a country where Indians are prevented from being a citizen
• Renounce other citizenships
• He should be residing in India or should be involved in services with the government of India for 12 months before the date of application. Partly fulfilling both the former and latter criteria will also be taken into account.
• He should be residing in India or performing Government of India service for 11 years aggregately even before the 12 months period before the date of application
• Good character
• He should have adequate knowledge of the language prescribed in schedule 8
• If he has been granted the certificate of naturalization, he should intend to reside in India
• If a person has performed distinguished service in the field of science, art, philosophy, literature, peace, and human rights, the government of India has the power to wave off all the above-mentioned conditions

4. Citizenship By Incorporation of Territory

Section 7

This provision says that if any foreign territory becomes a part of India, then the government of India will specify what fraction of people, belonging to that foreign territory will qualify for Indian citizenship.

Loss of citizenship

Renunciation- Also known as Section 8 

When a person makes a declaration that he is leaving citizenship of India.

• Termination- Also known as Section 9

When a person voluntarily acquires citizenship of another country.

• Deprivation- Also known as Section 10

Compulsory termination by the government of India.

Occurs when there is:

-Fraud in the documents produced

-Disloyalty towards the government of India

-Communication or transfer of information to the enemy country during the time of war

-Imprisonment for 2 years within 5 years of acquiring citizenship.

The second part of the Constitution of India (Articles 5-11) talks about citizenship. Article 11 states, " Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this Part shall derogate from the power of Parliament to make any provision with respect to the acquisition and termination of citizenship and all other matters relating to citizenship."

Article 10 of the constitution says that if you're already a citizen of India then the new laws that the parliament brings out with the help of Article 11, will not affect your citizenship provided you don't commit an offense that will allow the government to strip you from your citizenship.