Goans fear Indian citizenship loss over acquisition of Portuguese nationality

Sadanand Shet Tanavade, Goa’s lone representative in the Rajya Sabha, raised the issue in the upper house on Friday, saying as many as 70 people have had their Indian passports revoked so far

Thousands of Goans who have registered their births in Portugal to help their children and grandchildren avail of Portuguese citizenship were left on edge after the government revoked the Indian passports of those who have registered their births in Portugal.

(Representative Photo)

Under Portuguese law, those born in its erstwhile colonies before liberation, can get the country’s citizenship, and this facility is available till the third generation. In case of Goa, all those born in the state before 1961 and their descendants are eligible for Portugese citizenship.

Sadanand Shet Tanavade, Goa’s lone representative in the Rajya Sabha, raised the issue in the upper house on Friday, saying as many as 70 people have had their Indian passports revoked so far.

Over the past few months, the Regional Passport Office has revoked the Indian passports of more than 70 people as they had renewed their Indian passports after registering their births in Portugal.

With their passports revoked, the people are not eligible to apply for OCI (Overseas Citizenship of India) cards.

“The basis of this revocation of this regional passport office in Goa is the birth registration in Portugal considered as the effective date of acquiring (foreign) citizenship,” Bhartiya Janata Party MP Sadanand Shet Tanavade told the Rajya Sabha urging “the ministry of external affairs to reconsider the decision of revoking Indian passports solely based on the birth registration in Portugal”.

While Tanavade claimed that 70 people had their passports revoked, officials at the Goa regional passport office said that the number was likely to be higher and in the range of 80-100.

Kennedy Afonso, a local activist who called on Goa’s Commissioner of NRI Affairs on Monday (December 11), said that the real figure will be in the region of 400-500 people who have had their passports revoked.

“We are not talking about 70 people. The figure has come to around 400. And this issue is not only about them. This issue is about Goans who have got their assento (birth certificate). This will affect around 5-6 lakh (500,000-600,000) people. Millions of people are holding an assento by default, and they are the citizens of Portugal by law,” Afonso said.

Registering one’s birth in Portugal as proof of birth in Goa (or Daman and Diu) is the first step towards acquiring Portuguese nationality.

Upon registering, applicants are given a document known as the “assento de nascimento” after which the applicants apply for and receive a Cartão de Cidadão (citizenship card) earlier known as the Bilhete de Identidade (identity card) and ultimately a Portuguese passport.

“Earlier people used to surrender their Indian passport after acquiring a Portuguese passport. If the date of acquiring the assento is the date of change of nationality then people will have to be informed accordingly,” Afonso said.

Portugal recognises those who have voluntarily applied to register their birth in Portugal as having acquired Portuguese nationality under Portuguese law.

A former commissioner of NRI affairs (Goa government) in a letter to the Union special secretary for external affairs had argued that it is only upon acquisition of the Cartão de Cidadão can a person be considered to have acquired foreign nationality.

“Not every Goan born before Liberation becomes a Portuguese citizen by default and his/her registration of birth in Portugal as per Existing Portuguese Laws will entitle the said person to possess ‘Cartao de Cidadao,’” former commissioner of NRI affairs Wilfred Mesquita had said.

It is this document only– Cartão de Cidadao which makes the applicant a Portuguese Citizen, he argued.

“This implies that registration of birth is just the beginning of the process to obtain Portuguese citizenship through Cartao de Cidadao and registration of birth by itself in no way gives the applicant the right to be a Portuguese Citizen,” Mesquita had stated in his letter to the MEA back in 2014.

The issue arose again after the people who registered their births in Portugal attempted to renew or surrender their Indian passports but were instead issued with notices that their passports were being revoked.

Officials at the Goa passport office pointed to an internal office memorandum issued by the MEA which called on passport officers to revoke the passports for those who get their “Indian passport issued/reissued by suppressing material information about his/her having obtained foreign nationality…since the passport was obtained by suppressing material information about their having acquired foreign nationality”.

“When a person comes to surrender their Indian passport, citing the acquisition of foreign nationality as the reason, we check the date of acquisition of foreign nationality to ensure it can be legally surrendered. If the passport was issued/reissued after acquisition of foreign nationality, it is revoked,” an official, who declined to be quoted citing not being authorised to speak on the issue, said.

The official said passport officers are only empowered under the Passports Act and have no power to decide the citizenship or nationality of an individual.

Tanavade on Friday in the Rajya Sabha called on the ministry to “allow the renewal of Indian passports for these individuals until they acquire the official citizenship document from the Portuguese government.”

“This measure is necessary to facilitate their travel and ensure their well-being during the transition period until their Portuguese passports are ready,” he said.

In Goa, the ambiguity surrounding the acquisition of foreign citizenship continues to haunt many, including newly inducted minister Aleixo Sequeira.

On Saturday, his rival and former minister Francisco “Mickky” Pacheco showed the media what he said was a copy of a document showing that Sequeira had registered his birth in Portugal in the year 2021.

“It is possible that subsequently Sequeira cancelled his registration and was then given a ticket to contest the elections. If he has done so, he should tell the people of Goa who want to know whether there is a Portuguese citizen as a minister in the Goa government,” Pacheco said.

When asked to respond to Pacheco’s claims, Sequeira refused to respond. “Many allegations are being made. I don’t want to respond,” Sequeira said.

Sequeira is not alone. In 2019, the then deputy speaker Isidoro Fernandes was forced to deny acquiring foreign citizenship after an activist Adv Aires Rodrigues released a copy of the document showing that Fernandes’ had registered his birth in Portugal claiming that under the document, Fernandes had acquired foreign nationality and was hence liable to be disqualified from the assembly.