In exercise of its power the Parliament has enacted the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955. This Act provides for the acquisition and loss of Indian citizenship after the commencement of the Constitution. This Act has been amended four times so far by the Citizenship (Amendment) Acts of 1986, 1992, 2003 and 2005. The Citizenship Act, 1955 provided for the Commonwealth citizenship according to which every person who is a citizen of a Commonwealth country, shall by virtue of that citizenship, have the status of commonwealth citizenship in India. But, this provision was repealed by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003.

Citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution

1.  Every person who has domicile in the territory of India and

• Who was born in the territory of India; or
• either of whose parents was born in the territory of India; or
• who has been ordinarily resident in the territory of India for not less than five years immediately preceding such commencement; shall be a citizen of India.

2. Persons who migrated to India from Pakistan before 19 July, 1948 and since then have been ordinarily residing in India.

3. Persons who migrate to India from Pakistan on or after 19 July, 1948 but got themselves, duly registered as citizen with a competent officer appointed for that purpose.

4. Persons who migrated to Pakistan after 1st March, 1947 but returned to India under a permit for resettlement.

5. Any person who or either of whose parents or any of whose grandparents was born in India.

However, no person will be deemed to be a citizen, if he voluntarily acquired the citizenship of a foreign State. The Constitution makes use of the words ‘domicile’ and ‘residence’. The basic idea of domicile is permanent home. Residence in the country and the intention to make it his home are necessary to constitute a domicile.

ACQUISITION OF INDIAN CITIZENSHIP

The Citizenship Act 1955 provides for the acquisition of Indian Citizenship after the commencement of the Constitution in five ways; i.e. birth, descent, registration, naturalization and incorporation of territory.

a. Citizenship by birth. Any person born in India, on or after 26th January 1950 but prior to the commencement of the 1986 Act on 1st July 1987, is a citizen of India if either of his parent was a citizen of India at the time of the birth. Further, those born in India on or after 3rd December 2004 are considered citizens of India only if both their parents are citizens of India or if one parent is a citizen of India and the other not an illegal migrant at the time of their birth.

b. Citizenship by descent. Person born outside India on or after 26th January 1950 but before 10th December 1992 are citizen of India by descent if their father was a citizen of India at the time of their birth. Persons born outside India on or after 10th December 1992 are considered as citizen of India if either of their parents is a citizen of India at the time of their birth. From 3rd December 2004 onwards, person born outside India shall not be considered citizens of India unless their birth is registered at an Indian consulate within one year with the permission of the central government.

c. Citizenship by registration. Any person, who is not a citizen by virtue of the Constitution or the provisions of the Citizenship Act and belongs to any of the following categories, can apply for registration as a citizen. However, he must have resided in India for at least seven years immediately before making an application for registration as a citizen. These are:

1. a person of India origin who is ordinarily in India for seven years before making application for registration. (throughout the period of twelve months immediately before making application and for six years in the aggregate in the eight years preceding the twelve months).

2. a person of Indian origin who is ordinarily resident in any country or place outside undivided Indian;

3. 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;

4. minor children of persons who are citizens of India;

5. a person of full age and capacity whose parents are registered as citizen of India.

6. 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 years immediately before making an application for registration;

d. Citizenship by naturalization. A foreigner, on application for naturalization to a competent authority appointed by the State, can acquire Indian citizenship provided he satisfies certain conditions like having normal resided for at least twelve years in India in a period of 14 years before making an application.

Other conditions are:

1. That he is not a citizen or subject of a country where Indian citizens are prevented from becoming citizens by naturalization;

2. that he renounces his citizenship of the other country;

3. that he has either resided in India and/or been in government service for 12 months immediately preceding the date of application;

4. that during 14 years prior to these 12 months, he has either resided and/or been in government services for not less than 11 years;

5. that he is of good character;

6. that he has an adequate knowledge of a language recognized by the Constitution;

7. that after naturalization he intends to reside in India.

If the Central government is of the opinion that the applicant has rendered distinguished service to the cause of science, philosophy, art, literature, world peace or human progress generally, it may waive all or any of the above conditions for naturalization in his case.

e. Citizenship by incorporation of territory. If any new territory becomes a part of India, the Government of India, the Government of India shall notify the persons of that territory to be citizens of India.

LOSS OF INDIAN CITIZENSHIP

The Citizenship Act, 1955 also lays down the three modes by which an Indian citizen, whether a citizen at the commencement of the Constitution or subsequent to it, may lose his citizenship. These are renunciation, termination and deprivation.

1. Renunciation is a voluntary act by which a person after acquiring the citizenship of another country gives up his Indian citizenship.

2. Termination takes place by operation of law. When an India citizen voluntarily acquires the citizenship of another country, he automatically ceases to be an Indian citizen.

3. Deprivation is a compulsory termination of the citizenship of India obtained by Registration or Naturalization. The citizenship is deprived on the basis of an order of the Government of India, in cases involving acquisition of India citizenship by fraud, false representation and concealment of material fact or being disloyal to the Constitution etc.