In Last 10 Years, Around 70,000 Indians Surrendered Their Passports Across 8 States

Around 70,000 Indians have surrendered their passport at regional passport offices (RPTs) in the last 10 years, according to the response to the Right to Information Act application filed. Around 90% of them are recorded from 8 Indian states, and Goa tops the list with 28,031 (40%) of 69,303 surrendered passports.

Notably, the data only shows the number of people who surrendered their passports in RTPs rather than the accounts abandoned at Indian Embassies and High Commission abroad. As per Indian laws, one can't have dual citizenship and has to renounce their Indian citizenship in order to attain another country's citizenship.

'Renouncing/ Taking Citizenships Personal'

The Ministry of External Affairs reveals the list of cities, which is topped by Goa, subsequently followed by Punjab with 13.79% (9,557) surrendered passports. Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Delhi follow the list. Overall, the average number of people who have surrendered passports at RPTs is 482 across India every month.

While on the other hand, the average number of Indians who renounced their Indian citizenship has been 11,422 every month since 2011, as per MEA reports.

The report by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued on March 2023 says more than 16.21 lakh Indians renounced their citizenship between 2011 and October 31 last year. It also states the reason behind the increasing number of renouncing/taking citizenship is 'personal.'

Only 239 passports were given up in 2011, according to The Indian Express RTI's response. The following two years saw a sharp rise in the number to 11,492 in 2012 and 23,511 in 2013. Since that time, the numbers reported have been between 2,000 and 4,000.

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