522 from Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana region give up citizenship in past 5 yrs

Amarjot Kaur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 28

A total of 522 persons from Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana region have surrendered their passports in the past five years, according to the data provided by the Regional Passport Office (RPO), Sector 34.

A ‘surrender certificate’ is issued to applicants willing to surrender their passports at passport offices, mainly for renunciation of Indian citizenship and acquiring foreign nationality. This is a chargeable miscellaneous passport service. Those who have acquired the foreign nationality on or after June 1, 2010, need to pay Rs5,000 and those who acquired the foreign nationality before June 1, 2010 need to pay Rs500.

The RPO recorded the highest number of surrender certificates in 2019, just before the pandemic crippled the travel and tourism industry. That year, it issued a total of 162 surrender certificates. Despite the pandemic-induced restrictions, 99 people surrendered their passports in 2020. In 2021, the straight-line graph points at no change in the trend whatsoever. Till December 20, this year too, the RPO has issued 99 surrender certificates to the applicants wanting to give up Indian citizenship.

In 2018, this number stood at 90, while in 2017, the RPO issued only 70 surrender certificates.

Regional Passport Officer Sibash Kabiraj said: “Mostly, the reason behind surrendering the passport is to acquire a foreign nationality. Over these five years, we have observed that more and more people are leaving for Canada from the region. It is probably because there have been relaxations in getting Canadian PR and how it provides easy access to other developed countries.”

Chargeable service

A ‘surrender certificate’ is issued to applicants willing to surrender their passports at passport offices, mainly for renunciation of Indian citizenship and acquiring foreign nationality. This is a chargeable miscellaneous passport service.

Officialspeak

Mostly, the reason behind surrendering the passport is to acquire a foreign nationality. Over these five years, we have observed that more and more people are leaving for Canada from the region. It is probably because there have been relaxations in getting Canadian PR and how it provides easy access to other developed countries. — Sibash Kabiraj, Regional Passport Officer

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