THE GOAN | MELBOURNE
What began as a routine application to surrender an Indian passport turned into a three-year bureaucratic battle for a Goan in the UK, involving the High Commission of India in London, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
For Mervin Pegado, the ordeal finally ended on July 28, when his eOCI was issued by India's Bureau of Immigration at its London centre.
But his case has raised wider questions about procedures confronting overseas Goans with foreign citizenship, particularly those acquiring Portuguese nationality.
Three-year struggle
Pegado’s application for surrender of his Indian passport was received by the High Commission of India (HCI) in London in July 2023. Despite repeated follow-ups, the application remained pending for an extended period.
In October 2024, the HCI informed Pegado that his case fell under the procedure relating to an Indian passport after its holder had acquired foreign nationality and that a decision would be communicated in due course.
With the matter unresolved, Pegado petitioned External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on March 3, 2025, highlighting the passport surrender application pending with the HCI since July 2023.
The intervention eventually led the HCI to issue a passport revocation order on April 23, 2025.
However, the revocation order did not bring the matter to an end.
When Pegado applied for an OCI card, his application was returned on grounds he had not submitted a surrender certificate. The issue then centred on the distinction between a passport revocation order and a surrender certificate.
Pegado argued the requirement was inconsistent with special provisions by the MHA for people from Goa, Daman and Diu, who acquired Portuguese nationality.
The OCI Wing of the HCI informed Pegado that a “revocation certificate” was required rather than the revocation order he submitted. It also indicated that certificates issued by Regional Passport Offices (RPOs) were acceptable, while his document had been issued by the HCI in London.
For Pegado, this distinction created an unusual situation: an Indian government authority issued the revocation order, but another arm of the government was questioning whether that document could be used for the OCI application.
The issue became particularly significant because the MHA had already taken a decision on June 11, 2024, concerning Goans and those from Daman and Diu, who had acquired Portuguese nationality.
Under special provisions, a passport revocation order issued by a Regional Passport Office could, in specified circumstances, be accepted as an alternative to a surrender certificate for purposes, including an OCI application.
But the reference to an RPO created a problem for applicants whose revocation orders were issued by Indian missions abroad.
Challenging the interpretation, Pegado argued an Indian diplomatic mission performing passport-related functions overseas should be treated as the relevant passport-issuing authority.
The matter was taken up with Union Home Minister Amit Shah through a representation dated September 2, 2025. The representation highlighted the difficulties by Goans holding Portuguese citizenship and sought intervention to ensure implementation of the MHA instructions.
The issue ultimately resulted in an important clarification, with the reference to “RPO” subsequently being read as Passport Issuing Authority. This removed the technical distinction between revocation orders issued by an RPO in India and those issued by an Indian mission abroad.
For Pegado, the clarification proved decisive. His eOCI was finally issued on July 28 by the Bureau of Immigration, Government of India, at its London centre, ending a process that began with his passport surrender application three years earlier.
Implications for overseas Goans
The case could have wider implications for other overseas Goans.
The central issue is not simply the delay experienced by one applicant but whether government instructions are being implemented consistently by different authorities and Indian missions abroad.
For the Goan diaspora, delays in establishing passport status can have practical consequences, particularly while seeking OCI cards or other consular services.
The case also raises questions about overseas Goans acquiring citizenship of countries other than Portugal. The special relaxation applies specifically to people from Goa, Daman and Diu who acquired Portuguese nationality under Portuguese law. It does not automatically extend to Goans acquiring French or other European citizenship.
This opens the possibility that similarly placed overseas Goans could face different procedures depending on the foreign citizenship they acquire.
Pegado’s experience raises a broader question for Indian authorities: how many other overseas Goans have been caught in similar bureaucratic delays, and how many applications remain pending because of differences in interpretation between government departments and Indian missions abroad?
For Pegado, the long wait is finally over. But his three-year journey from a passport surrender application in London to an eOCI issued by the Government of India has highlighted the need for a more transparent, uniform and time-bound system for Overseas Goans dealing with Indian citizenship, passport and OCI procedures.
