The Citizenship Act, 1955 Acquisition and Loss of Citizenship

1. Presentation on
The Citizenship Act, 1955
Prepared by-
Sandip Satbhai
Assistant Professor
NBT Law College, Nashik-05
(New Law Guruji)
/sandip satbhai @sandipsatbhai #new_law_guruji /New law Guruji

2. The Citizenship Act, 1955
The Constitution of India
•Articles 5-11
The Citizenship Act, 1955
•Sections 3-10
/sandip satbhai @sandipsatbhai #new_law_guruji /New law Guruji

3. The Citizenship Act, 1955
• Acquisition of Citizenship
(5)
• Citizenship by Birth
• Citizenship by Descent
• Citizenship by Registration
• Citizenship by Naturalisation
• Citizenship by Incorporation
of Territory
• Cessation of Citizenship
(3)
• Renunciation
• Termination
• Deprivation
/sandip satbhai @sandipsatbhai #new_law_guruji /New law Guruji

4. The Citizenship Act, 1955
Amendments
Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1986 Born In India
Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1992 Removal of discrimination against Mother (Any
Parent)
Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003
Illegal Immigrant (Prohibition to Registration
and Naturalisation)
Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2005 OCI (Overseas Citizen of India)
Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2015
'Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder' (an
"OCC")
Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019
Indian citizenship to illegal migrants who are
Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and
Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh & Pak
/sandip satbhai @sandipsatbhai #new_law_guruji /New law Guruji

5. The Citizenship Act, 1955
• Citizenship is nothing but the relationship between individual and the
Sate.
• Citizens are full members of the Indian State and owe allegiance to it.
• Citizenship is required to enjoy all civil and political rights. excludes non-
citizens.
There are two well-known principles for the grant of citizenship:
While ‘jus soli’ confers citizenship on the basis of place of birth, ‘jus
sanguinis’ gives recognition to blood ties.
– From the time of the Motilal Nehru Committee (1928), the Indian leadership
was in favour of the enlightened concept of jus soli.
– The racial idea of jus sanguinis was also rejected by the Constituent
Assembly as it was against the Indian ethos.
/sandip satbhai @sandipsatbhai #new_law_guruji /New law Guruji

6. The Citizenship Act, 1955
• There are Five ways by which a person can
acquire citizenship of India after
commencement of the Constitution.
• Citizenship by Birth
• Citizenship by Descent
• Citizenship by Registration
• Citizenship by Naturalisation
• Citizenship by Incorporation of Territory
/sandip satbhai @sandipsatbhai #new_law_guruji /New law Guruji

7. 1. Citizenship by Birth (Section 3)
• i. Born in India on or after 26th January 1950
irrespective of their parent’s nationality.
• ii. Born on or after 1st July 1987– Either of his
parents is a citizen of India at the time of Birth
• iii. Born on or after 3rd December 2004 – Either
of Parents is a citizen of India and the second
parent must not be an illegal migrant.
• iv. The children of foreign diplomats posted in
India and enemy aliens cannot acquire Indian
citizenship by birth.
/sandip satbhai @sandipsatbhai #new_law_guruji /New law Guruji

8. 2. By Descent (Section-4)
• i. After 26th January 1950 – Born outside India
if father was citizen
• ii. After 10th December 1992– Either of Parent
is Citizen
• iii. After 3rd December 2004– Person born
outside India– Must file an application within
one year of birth condition to that minor does
not hold passport off any other nation.
/sandip satbhai @sandipsatbhai #new_law_guruji /New law Guruji

9. 3. By Registration (Not illegal migrant) for
application must fulfil (Section 5)
• i. An ordinary resident for seven years.
• ii. A person of Indian origin who is ordinarily
resident in any country or place outside
undivided India.
• iii. Married to the Indian citizen and should be
a resident for seven years.
• iv. Minor children of persons who are citizens
of India.
/sandip satbhai @sandipsatbhai #new_law_guruji /New law Guruji

10. 4. By Naturalization (Section 6)
• A person can acquire citizenship by
naturalisation if he/she is ordinarily resident
of India for 12 years (throughout 12 months
preceding the date of application and 11 years
in the aggregate in the 14 years preceding the
14 years) and fulfils all qualifications in the
third schedule of the Citizenship Act.
/sandip satbhai @sandipsatbhai #new_law_guruji /New law Guruji

11. 5. By Incorporation of Territory (Section-7)
• i. If any foreign territory becomes a part of India, the
Government of India specifies the individuals who
among the people of the territory shall be the citizens
of India. E.g. Pondicherry.(Puducherry ) August 16
1962
• The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 -The Bill
amends the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make illegal
migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains,
Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
and Pakistan, eligible for citizenship.
/sandip satbhai @sandipsatbhai #new_law_guruji /New law Guruji

12. Loss of Citizenship
On acquiring other
citizenship
By Deprivation
/sandip satbhai @sandipsatbhai #new_law_guruji /New law Guruji
By Renunciation

13. Loss of Citizenship
• i. By Renunciation Declaration by the person
himself.
• ii. By Termination On acquiring other citizenship,
his/her Indian citizenship terminates
automatically.
• iii. By Deprivation In the case of fraud acquisition
of nationality or any disloyalty to Constitution or
country or any person citizen by registration or
naturalization who imprisoned in any country for
two years or citizen residing outside country for
seven years, citizenship will be terminated.
/sandip satbhai @sandipsatbhai #new_law_guruji /New law Guruji

14. Single Citizenship
• Constitution of India provides Single nationality and uniform rights
to its Citizens like that of Canada. USA and Switzerland have
adopted for Dual Citizenship. In India, all the citizen are provided
with same political and civil rights.
• But there are few exceptional cases:
• Under Article -16 Parliament can set State or Union Territory as a
condition for Employment.
• Article-15 does not guarantee discrimination on the ground of
residence. So it provides the opportunity to state govt. To offer the
concession in fees for education to its residents.
• Article 19 gives the right to movement and residence subject to
some restriction regarding tribal areas to protect their culture and
customs.
• In the case of J&K, it has right to define permanent residents.
/sandip satbhai @sandipsatbhai #new_law_guruji /New law Guruji

15. Citizenship Amendment Act 2019
(CAA)
• The Act does not apply to tribal areas of Tripura,
Mizoram, Assam and Meghalaya because of being
included in the 6th Schedule of the Constitution.
• Also areas that fall under the Inner Limit notified
under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation,
1873, will also be outside the Act's purview.
• Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland out of
the ambit of the Act.
/sandip satbhai @sandipsatbhai #new_law_guruji /New law Guruji

16. Citizenship Amendment Act 2019
(CAA)
• The Act gives permission to non-Muslim immigrants
from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to become
citizens of India.
• It indirectly entitles Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains,
Parsis, and Christians immigrated from the three
nations, to seek Indian citizenship who had arrived in
India before 31 December 2014.
• The amendment relaxes this requirement from 11
years to six years, for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains,
Parsis, and Christians from the three nations.
/sandip satbhai @sandipsatbhai #new_law_guruji /New law Guruji

17. Citizenship Amendment Act 2019
(CAA)
• Amendment of Third Schedule:
• 'Provided that for the person belonging to Hindu,
Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community
in Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, the
aggregate period of residence or service of
Government in India as required under this
clause shall be read as "not less than five years"
in place of "not less than eleven years"
/sandip satbhai @sandipsatbhai #new_law_guruji /New law Guruji

18. Thank You.!
/sandip satbhai
@sandipsatbhai
#new_law_guruji
/New Law Guruji