87% of applicants granted Indian citizenship hail from Pakistan | RTI Exclusive
India Today
Over the last five years, 5220 foreigners have been granted Indian citizenship, with 4552 (87 per cent) of the new citizens hailing from Pakistan.
In the past five years, 87 per cent of the applicants who have received Indian citizenship hail from Pakistan.The Ministry of Home Affairs revealed this in response to a Right to Information (RTI) query filed by India Today.
Over the last five years, 5220 foreigners have been granted Indian citizenship, with 4552 (87 per cent) of the new citizens hailing from Pakistan.
In the last five years, over six lakh Indians have given up their citizenship, according to Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, who informed the Lok Sabha in November last year. Nityanand Rai informed the Lok Sabha that in the last five years, from 2017 to 2021 (till Sept 10), 6,08,162 people gave up Indian citizenship.
In response to India Today’s RTI, the Home Ministry stated that 5220 foreigners were granted Indian citizenship between 2017 and 2022.
On an average, 1,21,632 people gave up Indian citizenship every year, but only an average of 1044 people took Indian citizenship in the last five years. This means total intake is only about 1 per cent of the total brain drain.
The United States accounts for over 40 per cent of citizenship renunciation requests, followed by Australia and Canada, which together account for around 30 per cent of such requests.
The top destination for Indians is the USA’s citizenship. Reverse migration is also taking place, but at a very microscopic level. Only 71 American citizens opted to take Indian citizenship in the last 5 years. In contrast, the top three countries whose residents got Indian citizenship are Pakistan (87%), Afghanistan (8%) and Bangladesh (2%).
