GUWAHATI: After more than four years of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) being passed by the parliament, the Union Home Ministry has officially issued the rules on Monday.
In December 2019, Parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the then President of India Ramnath Kovind approved the act, officially making it a law.
The law offers citizenship to six religious minorities Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian, escaping religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.
Citizenship will be granted to those who arrived in India from these nations on or before December 31. 2014. CAA is an amendment to the Citizenship Act of 1955.
Under the CAA, migrants will be eligible for expedited India citizenship within six years. The amendment also reduces the residence requirement for naturalization from eleven years to five for these migrants, deviating from the previous norm of a 12-year residence requirement.
Muslims are not included in CAA, as they are not considered minorities in the specified countries.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs has prepared an online portal for the convenience of applicants, as the entire process will be conducted online.
Applicants will need to declare the year of their entry into India without travel documents. No documents will be required from the applicants, according to an official.
Applicants of Indian origin seeking registration as citizens of India include those married to Indian citizens can apply for citizenship, minor children of Indian citizens, individuals whose parents are registered as Indian citizens, individuals who or whose citizens of Independent India, and individuals registered as Overseas Citizen of India Cardholders. These individuals can apply for registration as Indian citizens through the appropriate channels.
In addition to fulfilling these conditions, applicants for Indian citizenship must have spent at least 12 continuous months in India prior to the date of application. The notified rules also stipulate that during the eight years immediately preceding this twelve-month period, applicants must have spent a total of at least six years in India to be eligible for Indian citizenship.
Further, applicants must provide a declaration stating that they “irrevocably” renounce their existing citizenship and intend to make India their “permanent home”. They must also declare that they will not assert any claim to their renounced citizenship in the future.
All approved applicants will be required to take an oath of allegiance pledging to “bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India” as by law established and that they would “faithfully observe the laws of India” and “fulfill” their duties as citizens of India.
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