Surrender your passport, only then you will get Indian citizenship! Rules changed for people of Pakistan-Bangladesh

New Delhi: The Central Government has made many important changes in the rules for obtaining Indian citizenship. Now it will be mandatory for people holding passport of Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan to surrender their passport before getting citizenship. The Home Ministry itself has issued a new notification in this regard.

What is the new rule?

The Home Ministry has added a new provision under the ‘Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2026’. Now people applying for citizenship will have to declare whether they have a valid or expired passport of Pakistan, Afghanistan or Bangladesh.

If there is a passport, then the applicant will have to give its complete details, such as passport number, date of issue, place and expiry date. This information must be filled compulsorily.

It is necessary to surrender within 15 days

After the citizenship is approved, the applicant will have to surrender his foreign passport within 15 days. For this, they will have to give written consent to the concerned Senior Superintendent of Post or Superintendent of Post.

The government says that this change is just an administrative clarification. Its purpose is to further strengthen the process of scrutiny of applications and record keeping. The new rule will come into force as soon as it is published in the Gazette.

Other important changes

This month, the Home Ministry has also made many other reforms in the citizenship rules. Now OCI card will be issued completely in electronic form (e-OCI). The application process has been made completely online, due to which the paperwork has been reduced.

The rules regarding dual passport of minor children have been tightened. Apart from this, applicants will have to give consent to provide biometric data. This will provide facilities like fast-track immigration and automatic registration in future.

Why was the change made?

The aim of the government is to make the citizenship process transparent, secure and easy. Compulsory information and surrender of foreign passport will help in curbing fake applications. This new rule is especially important for those who want to come to India from Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan and get citizenship. Now they will have to strictly follow the rules.