The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has notified amendments to the Citizenship Rules, 2009, introducing fresh disclosure requirements for citizenship applicants linked to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
The notification, issued late Monday, stated that the revised provisions, titled the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2026, came into force immediately after publication in the official gazette.
The amendment was issued under powers granted by Section 18 of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
Under the revised rules, a new clause has been inserted into Schedule IC of the Citizenship Rules. The amendment requires applicants to declare whether they possess or previously possessed a valid or expired passport issued by the governments of Pakistan, Afghanistan or Bangladesh.
Applicants will now have to either state that they do not hold such a passport or furnish complete details if they do. The information sought includes passport number, date and place of issue, and expiry date.
The amended rules also require applicants declaring possession of such passports to undertake that they will surrender them to the concerned authorities within 15 days of approval of their Indian citizenship application.
Officials said the amendment was intended to strengthen procedural clarity and improve documentation processes in citizenship applications involving individuals from the three neighbouring countries.
The principal Citizenship Rules were first notified on February 25, 2009, and were last amended on March 11, 2024.
The latest changes come in the backdrop of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act debate that began after Parliament passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in December 2019.
At the time, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said the legislation was intended to provide relief and a path to citizenship for persecuted minorities including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who migrated to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Shah had also stated during parliamentary discussions that the law was not directed against minorities in India and that the rights of Indian citizens would remain protected.
He had further argued that minorities in neighbouring Islamic nations had faced persecution and displacement over the years, and that the legislation sought to provide them with dignity and legal protection through Indian citizenship, subject to fulfilment of prescribed conditions.
During the debate, Shah had additionally maintained that expired passports and visas held by such migrants would not automatically render them illegal immigrants.
He had also linked the legislation to the historical context of Partition and what he described as the failure of the 1950 Nehru-Liaquat Pact to adequately protect minorities in Pakistan and later Bangladesh.
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