Page 1 of 1

Getting back Indian citizenship

Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 12:12 pm
by r2i_100
What are requirements for USC (indian origin) to get Indian citizenship?

Getting back Indian citizenship

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:49 pm
by r2i_100
refreshing the thread since I did not get any response.

Getting back Indian citizenship

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 12:54 am
by cool_r2i
There are several ways
(i) If you are PIO card holder and lived in India for 7 years, you can apply for Indian citizenship.
(ii) If you are OCI the time required is 5 years.
There are other categories...please see http://mha.nic.in/citi.htm

Hope this helps.

Getting back Indian citizenship

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 8:25 am
by pjigar
cool_r2i;39492There are several ways
(i) If you are PIO card holder and lived in India for 7 years, you can apply for Indian citizenship.
(ii) If you are OCI the time required is 5 years.
There are other categories...please see http://mha.nic.in/citi.htm

Hope this helps.


Little correction on (ii):
You need to hold OCI for 5 year AND physical presence in India for 1 year to be eligible for Indian citizenship.

Getting back Indian citizenship

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 4:18 pm
by b2b
Citizenship by Registration

The Central Government may, on an application, register as a citizen of India under section 5 of the Citizenship Act 1955 any person (not being an illegal migrant) if he belongs to any of the following categories:

  • a person of Indian origin who is ordinarily resident in India for seven years before making an application for registration;
  • a person of Indian origin who is ordinarily resident in any country or place outside undivided India;
  • a person who is married to a citizen of India and is ordinarily resident in India for seven years before making an application for registration;
  • minor children of persons who are citizens of India;
  • a person of full age and capacity whose parents are registered as citizens of India by ordinary residence in India for seven years;
  • a person of full age and capacity who, or either of his parents, was earlier citizen of independent India, and has been residing in India for one year immediately before making an application for registration;
  • a person of full age and capacity who has been registered as an overseas citizen of India for five years, and who has been residing in India for one year before making an application for registration.
Source: Citizenship

Getting back Indian citizenship

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 9:16 pm
by VWbuggy78
If I am a former citizen of India (and son of someone who was), and have lived here for a year, can I apply for a citizenship?

Would that mean giving up USC?

Getting back Indian citizenship

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 10:08 pm
by cool_r2i
VWbuggy78;40103If I am a former citizen of India (and son of someone who was), and have lived here for a year, can I apply for a citizenship?

Would that mean giving up USC?[/quote]

In whatever section you apply, you need to give up USC if you need complete Indian citizenship and Indian passport. That's the requirement. India does not allow 'DUAL' citizenship. The 'close-to-dual-citizenship' is OCI even though it is falsely propagated as the real dual citizenship. To some extent it is good because there are many countries that are not supportive of dual citizenship even though they recognize it and basically do not care about the other citizenship. For example: USA allows dual citizenship, but if you want to get security clearance for a job in US, it may be harder if you are dual citizen.

- Just my 2 cents.

Getting back Indian citizenship

Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 8:15 pm
by oasis138
b2b;39555Citizenship by Registration

The Central Government may, on an application, register as a citizen of India under section 5 of the Citizenship Act 1955 any person (not being an illegal migrant) if he belongs to any of the following categories:

  • a person of Indian origin who is ordinarily resident in India for seven years before making an application for registration;
  • a person of Indian origin who is ordinarily resident in any country or place outside undivided India;
  • a person who is married to a citizen of India and is ordinarily resident in India for seven years before making an application for registration;
  • minor children of persons who are citizens of India;
  • a person of full age and capacity whose parents are registered as citizens of India by ordinary residence in India for seven years;
  • a person of full age and capacity who, or either of his parents, was earlier citizen of independent India, and has been residing in India for one year immediately before making an application for registration;
  • a person of full age and capacity who has been registered as an overseas citizen of India for five years, and who has been residing in India for one year before making an application for registration.
Source: Citizenship


So as per "minor children of persons who are citizens of India;" a minor kids with Indian parents dosent have to wait 7 years to apply for Indian passport and give up USC when we r2i? Thanks.

Getting back Indian citizenship

Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 8:25 pm
by FB2020
b2b;39555Citizenship by Registration



  • a person of full age and capacity who, or either of his parents, was earlier citizen of independent India, and has been residing in India for one year immediately before making an application for registration;


  • a person of full age and capacity who has been registered as an overseas citizen of India for five years, and who has been residing in India for one year before making an application for registration.
Source: Citizenship

these two seem to be overlapping.
Per second one - if someone is OCI, then he automatically meets the first criteria anyway. i.e He must have been an earlier indian citizen anyway.

then why bother with second condition ?

I was indian citizen earlier, so after 1 year of india stay I can apply. No matter how long have I had OCI ( Or even if I didn't have OCI, I may have PIO etc.)

Getting back Indian citizenship

Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 8:51 pm
by cyberabadi
FB2020;294969
then why bother with second condition ?

Don't just go by Wikipedia links. A person has to wait for 5 Full Years after giving up Indian Citizenship to be eligible to apply for Indian Citizenship again. There are some court judgements from last year (2009) when a few who gave up indian citizenship earlier reapplied for Indian Citizenship to content the Lok Sabha elections.

If you want to search, One of them was the PRP candidate for Kakinada Lok Sabha Constituency, He was formerly a British Citizen. I guess the BJP LS Candidate from Miryalguda or Nalgonda in AP and the current Congress MP from Nizamabad in AP also fall under that category.