MARGAO: On June 2 Under-secretary Establishment Anju Kerkar of the Law dept wrote to the State Registrar cum head of Notary Services Department stating that the Under Secretary Home has opined that the Civil Registrar Offices should not directly entertain request for the verification of births, death, marriage records and instead the request for verification should be routed through the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi “as it is a proper practice for foreign nations.”
Cosme Fernandes of Excellency Services, who helps in processing applications for Portuguese passports, said that the circular of the Law Department “left us helpless since lots of Goans have invested in the process to register their births or births of ancestors to seek a Portuguese passport for better employment while they go abroad and remit in Goa but this has dulled their future prospects”.
This means that a simple procedure wherein any person who applies for Portuguese citizenship with his documents of birth and that of his parents and their marriage was simply verified by the Portuguese Consulate at Goa itself by sending a copy of the Birth Certificate or Marriage Certificate to the Sub-Registrar’s Office in Panjim, Margao, Quepem, Ponda and other talukas and received a verification report from the Sub-Registrar whose office holds documents of birth and marriage as attached to the Office of Statistics and Planning which issues all kinds of birth and marriage records.
However, it is important to see the situation in its entirety before jumping to conclusions.
Only records prior to 1970 that are usually verified at the Sub-Registrar’s Office.
“Let me explain the situation and then you judge if it’s grave or not. Firstly its only records prior to 1970 that are usually verified at the Sub-Registrar’s Office. The ones after those are mostly computerised and available with the local municipalities and panchayats and can be verified online and doesn’t require this verification,” explains Zezito Gomindes of Gomindes & Co, Margao.
Zezito, a lawyer by profession and fluent with matters of birth and marriage registration in Portugal tells us that most often people prior to 1970 have already registered their births so that their children and grandchildren can or have already benefitted from their Portuguese passport and migrated or in the process of registering and migrating.
Zezito explains that it’s very important to make this clear to a client when they approach for help and assistance in registration of birth for Portuguese nationality and subsequent seeking citizenship of Portugal. He feels that often agents don’t make this clear to clients especially those born prior to 1970 who are mostly Goans from Salcete and then these clients are charged exorbitant amounts and promised clearances despite the change in rules.
Government not totally wrong since there have been cases of fraud at the Sub-Registrar level.
Zezito like a few others states that the government is not wrong in changing its process because of certain cases of fraud and also the Government of India has to protect its own records and sovereignty.
But the MEA doesn’t have the capacity to clear 40,000 applications
But he feels that’s it’s obvious that an overworked External Affairs Ministry is incapable to clear 40,000 applications unless it sets up a separate department for Portuguese verification which can come only through Parliamentary procedure and hence the roadblock. Zezito also feels that Portugal can just waive off this procedure completely as a goodwill gesture and break the deadlock.
The route to a Portuguese passport
Any birth prior to 1961 is subject for Portuguese nationality and thereby can also register his or her marriage and the children are also granted Portuguese nationality. And hence Goans are subject to Portuguese citizenship. So an individual even born in the 1970s, 1980, 1990 or even 2000 seeks citizenship into Portugal by registering their parents or grandparents birth and marriage and then their parents’ birth and marriage and their own wherein each registration of birth or marriage costs Rs 75,000 and above.
Current practical problem
The June 2, 2017 internal circular of the Government of Goa has not been communicated to the Portuguese Consulate while state registrars are rejecting verifications but not communicating this to the Portuguese Consulate. The consulate therefore cannot file a protest or raise this with its Indian counterpart.
And a simple solution
Suraj Verenkar, Sub-Registrar, Ponda who earlier was in Margao feels that the government may know best as why it changed the process of verification which may be for various reasons. But Verenkar asserted, “Anyone has the authority to apply for a birth certificate of any person. All the Portuguese Consulate should do is stop this verification process and apply a birth or marriage certificate over the counter at the Sub-Registrar’s office and if produced and it matches their records they can grant citizenship while the matter is simply complicated by few.
