Many Goans who have registered their births in Portugal to assist their children and grandchildren in obtaining Portuguese citizenship were left in a state of uncertainty when the government decided to cancel the Indian passports of those who have completed the registration process in Portugal.
Under Portuguese law, individuals who were born in the former colonies before they gained independence are entitled to obtain Portuguese citizenship. This opportunity is open to them and their descendants up to the third generation. Specifically for Goa, anyone born in the state before 1961 and their offspring are eligible to apply for Portuguese citizenship.
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Sadanand Shet Tanavade, the only member from Goa in the Rajya Sabha, brought up the matter in the upper house on Friday. He mentioned that a total of 70 individuals have already had their Indian passports cancelled.
In the last couple of months, more than 70 individuals have had their Indian passports cancelled by the Regional Passport Office. This happened because they had renewed their passports after registering their births in Portugal. As a result, these individuals are now unable to apply for OCI (Overseas Citizenship of India) cards.
“The basis of this revocation of this regional passport office in Goa is the birth registration in Portugal considered as the effective date of acquiring (foreign) citizenship,” Bhartiya Janata Party MP Sadanand Shet Tanavade told the Rajya Sabha urging “the ministry of external affairs to reconsider the decision of revoking Indian passports solely based on the birth registration in Portugal”. as quoted in HT.
Tanavade stated that around 70 individuals had their passports revoked, but according to officials at the Goa regional passport office, the actual number is expected to be higher, ranging from 80 to 100.
On Monday (December 11), Kennedy Afonso, a local activist, met with Goa's Commissioner of NRI Affairs and claimed that the true figure would be much larger, estimated to be between 400 and 500 people who have had their passports revoked.
The MEA recently released a circular instructing passport officers to cancel passports if they were renewed after obtaining foreign citizenship. Passport officials highlighted their responsibility under the Passports Act, clarifying that their role is to verify the legal reasons for surrendering a passport, not to determine citizenship.
(With Input from agencies)
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