PANAJI
Those holding a Portuguese Bilhete de Identidade or Assento de Nascimento and seeking renewal of their Indian passport, without surrendering it within the stipulated period, are facing revocation of their passports.
In a startling turn of events, at least 360 persons out of a pool of 5,400 applicants in the State, who aimed to surrender and renew their Indian passport in lieu of foreign nationalities, including Portuguese, have found themselves facing an unexpected predicament in the last one year.
Those who have acquired their Assento de Nascimento, a Portuguese birth document, are now grappling with the abrupt revocation of their Indian passports. This unforeseen development stems from a circular issued by the Ministry of External Affairs on November 30, 2022.
According to the circular, those persons holding foreign nationality and attempting to renew their Indian passport will face revocation of their passports under Section 10 (3) (b) of the Passport Act of 1967.
The implications of this decision are unfolding at Regional Passport Offices pan-India, including Goa, where an average of 15 to 20 applications are received daily. Alarmingly, at least one application per day is being revoked for possession of either the Billet De Identidade or Assento de Nascimento.
An official from the Ministry of External Affairs, speaking to The Goan, disclosed that the development is a direct consequence of applicants who have come to the passport office for renewal unaware of the consequences. The official indicated that many applicants might have been misled by agents or ignorantly committed the act or taken advantage of possible loopholes in the law.
REVOCATIONS BASED ON SCRUTINY OF DOCUMENTS:
“We are not forcibly revoking Indian passports. Our officials scrutinise the documents whenever he/she (applicant) comes to surrender the passport,” clarified the official. As per the rules, the applicant has to mandatorily provide the document that proves the date of acquisition of foreign nationality.
The MEA source further informed that the issuance of the circular was prompted by an official communication from the Portugal Embassy in Dublin to the Indian Embassy. The communication revealed that even those persons holding Assento de Nascimento are considered Portuguese nationals by its government.
GOANS WITH GOVT JOBS IN LIMBO
The development has trapped several Goans who have registered their birth in Portugal and are serving the system in the government or government departments. It has also come to the fore that these Indian-turned-Portuguese nationals, will now have to seek visas from the FRRO.
“As per the law, anyone who gets their passports revoked for whatever reason were penalised and visas were not issued. Presently, there is no penalty after a High Court's intervention... many applicants have conveyed to the Passport Offices that the FRRO is issuing them exit and entry visas, this being a special case,” he said. “The circular should not worry those who are following due process of the law.”
