428 Goans obtained foreign passports in last 3 months

MARGAO
Strange it may seem, but true that a total of 428 individuals from Goa have acquired foreign passport after surrendering their Indian passport in the last three months of the current calendar year.

If highly placed sources are to be believed, the list compiled by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office, Goa has been submitted to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer and the two district Collectors for information and action.

Almost all the applications have acquired the Portuguese passport after surrendering their Indian passport. Interestingly, majority of the applicants hail from South Goa, right from the port town of Vasco to Sanguem, Ponda and Salcete. Only a couple of the applicants are from North Goa.

Sources said they had applied for online service requesting for new visa with FRRO, Mumbai which is a "hub" for processing the visa-related services of foreign nationals residing in Goa and FRRO Goa is the "spoke" of FRRO, Mumbai.

As per the records in the e-FRRO system, 367 applications have been processed and 61 applications are pending with FRRO, Mumbai.

That the FRRO has sent the information to the office of Chief Electoral Officer and the two district Collectors have thrown up a question or two whether the names of the applicants have been deleted from the electoral rolls or will be done ahead of the May 7 Lok Sabha polls.

It may be recalled, around 200 applicants seeking surrender certificates had their passports revoked over the past 17 months as they held Portuguese citizenship. The same period also saw over 1,000 applicants issued surrender certificates amidst the November 30, 2022 circular, with officials citing their compliance with central guidelines.

The MEA in December 2023 disclosed that citizenship of 114 Goans had been revoked in the last three years. In the same period, over 2,000 applications were received by the Regional Passport Office for the surrender of Indian passports.

MEA Minister V Muraleedharan had cited the presence of well-defined laws such as the Passports Act of 1967 and the Citizenship Act of 1955 to regulate such cases.

Meanwhile, a recent order of the MEA has held that revocation letter will be accepted for those seeking OCI status, opening a window of hope for several Goans whose passports were being revoked because of their dual nationality status.