Hard choices: Why more Indians are giving up their citizenships

The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday informed the Parliament that over nine lakh Indians have given up their citizenship in the last five years, with over two lakh per year since 2022.

This data presented to Parliament showed that 2.06 million (over 20 lakh) Indians gave up their citizenship between 2011 and 2024. Nearly half of this happened in the last five years, during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.

For almost a decade within these 14 years, annual figures stayed within a narrow bracket of 1.2 lakh to 1.45 lakh Indians renouncing their citizenship each year, before the trend shifted to over 2 lakh annually from 2022 onwards.

Responding to questions in the Lok Sabha, the MEA stated in written replies that “the reasons are personal and known only to the individual” and that “many of them have chosen to take up foreign citizenship for reasons of personal convenience”. The ministry also acknowledged that India “recognises the potential of the global workplace in an era of knowledge economy”.

This comes even as brain drain has been affecting India since the 1970s, and has only increased with each passing decade, peaking in the 2020s.

Experts said one reason Indians give up their passports for a more attractive US, UK, or Canadian passport is that India does not allow dual citizenship. Social media platforms, from LinkedIn to Reddit, are full of posts by members of the Indian diaspora, where people have shared how difficult it was for them to give up their identity, the document that makes them an Indian citizen, the Indian passport.

Under Indian law, an Indian passport holder automatically loses citizenship upon voluntarily acquiring the citizenship of another country. For Indians who have lived and worked abroad for years, taking up foreign citizenship is often required to access full civic and professional rights.

Section 9 of the Citizenship Act, 1955, governs this provision. “Any citizen of India who by naturalisation, registration or otherwise voluntarily acquires, or has at any time between 26th January, 1950 and the commencement of this Act voluntarily acquired, the citizenship of another country shall, upon such acquisition cease to be a citizen of India.”

India’s Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status offers visa-free travel and limited economic rights, but it does not confer any political rights. OCI holders cannot vote, contest elections, or hold constitutional positions in other countries.

For migrants who have settled permanently abroad, especially those with families, foreign citizenship becomes a necessity. Renouncing Indian citizenship is therefore not always a voluntary decision. The lack of dual citizenship leaves Indians with no choice, experts added.

The post-pandemic period might explain the sudden rise in Indians giving up their passports. When the pandemic struck in 2020, consulates were shut, travel was restricted, and immigration systems across countries were frozen. Naturally, the number of Indians renouncing citizenship fell from an average of 1.3 lakh to around 85,000, the lowest in a decade.

Once borders reopened, processing resumed, and applications that had been pending since 2020 were cleared in large volumes. Hence, the steep jump to over two lakh renunciations in 2022. But the high numbers of renunciations continued in 2023 and 2024 too.

Indian face visa chaos

New Delhi: Hundreds of Indian applicants for US H-1B, H-4 visas are facing renewed uncertainty after interview appointments were postponed to as late as October 2026, following earlier rescheduling to early 2026. Immigration lawyers report a surge in abrupt cancellations since

mid-December, pushing cases to the final quarter of next year. US authorities attribute delays to additional processing and expanded social media screening. Many professionals, some separated from families or stranded abroad after traveling for visa stamping, say repeated disruptions are threatening jobs and family stability, fueling anxiety across Indian expat communities.