PANJIM: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), New Delhi should issue clear-cut guidelines vis-à-vis the citizenship status and grant of OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) for people whose births have been registered in Portugal as the revised circular was affecting large number of citizens in the State, demanded some of the citizens, whose passports were revoked following a circular by the MEA dated November 30, 2022.
These affected persons have now come together under the “Goans for Goa” banner and on Monday submitted their representations to the Commissioner for NRI Affairs and the Chief Minister urging them to take up the matter with the Centre and to grant an amnesty period for revoked passport holders to apply for OCI.
Later speaking to media persons, “Goans for Goa” convenor Kennedy Afonso said that after the MEA circular dated November 30, 2022, and the Portuguese authorities issuing a communication that one becomes a citizen after the birth is registered in Portugal, the Regional Passport Office, Panjim revoked Indian passports of over 70 people who were trying to renew their passport considering the date of registering the birth in Portugal as the date of acquiring Portuguese citizenship.
With the revocation of passport, these people are now not eligible to apply for OCI cards, Afonso said, demanding that the regional passport office should grant a provisional surrender certificate to all persons who had their passports revoked as they had unknowingly renewed their passports. Prior to the MEA’s circular, the passport office itself was using a surrender certificate by imposing a penalty, he said.
Afonso said that all people who had renewed their passports after the MEA circular dated November 30, 2022, must be given an amnesty period and be issued a provisional surrender certificate so that they could apply for OCI card status by levying a penalty.
Afonso emphasised that while passport revocation isn’t the primary issue, obtaining OCI status is crucial as they have their homes and families in India. He said that the Commissioner for NRI Affairs has assured them to take up the issue with the government to address the critical concerns affecting individuals’ ties to India.
According to Afonso, nearly three lakh Goans have only transcribed their births and demanded to know how they can be deemed’ as citizens of Portugal. The government should pay down a proper procedure for surrender of their Indian passport and issuance of surrender certificate and put an end to this issue once and for all.
Fortune Sequeira, whose passport was revoked in February this year, said that she was shocked and went into depression after revocation of her passport and refusal to issue OCI card. “Initially nobody knew the implication of MEA circular. FRRO was clueless and was refusing visas. But now visas are issued but OCI is denied when applied,” she said.
