Indian nationality law
| The Citizenship Act, 1955 | |
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| An Act to provide for acquisition and determination of Indian citizenship. | |
| Citation | Act No 57 of 1955 |
| Enacted by | Parliament of India |
| Date assented to | 30 December 1955 |
| Amendments | |
| The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1986, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1992, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003, and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2005 | |
| Summary | |
| Along with the Constitution of India, the Citizenship Act, 1955, is the exhaustive law relating to citizenship in India. | |
The conferment of a person, as a citizen of India, is governed by Articles 5 to 11 (Part II) of the Constitution of India. The legislation related to this matter is the Citizenship Act 1955, which has been amended by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 1986, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 1992, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2003, The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2005 and Citizenship (Amendment) Act,2015
Article 9 of Indian Constitution says that a person who voluntarily acquires citizenship of any other country is no longer an Indian citizen. Also, according to The Passports Act, a person has to surrender his/her Indian passport and vote card and other Indian ID cards must not use after other country citizenship. It is a punishable offence if the person fails to surrender the passport.
Indian nationality law largely follows the jus sanguinis (citizenship by right of blood) as opposed to the jus soli (citizenship by right of birth within the territory). The President of India is termed the first Citizen of India.
From 1858 till its Independence in 1947, India was a part of the British Empire. Between 1 January 1949 and 25 January 1950, Indians were British subjects, by virtue of Section 18(3) of Indian Independence Act, unless they had already acquired citizenship of United Kingdom or any other country.
On commencement of the Indian Constitution on 26 January 1950, the Indians were no longer British subjects. Moreover, they enjoyed the status of Commonwealth citizen (also known as a British subject with Commonwealth citizenship, a status which does not entitle the person to use a British passport), by virtue of their Indian citizenship and India's membership of the Commonwealth. However, a number of Indians did not acquire Indian citizenship on commencement of the Indian Constitution and retained British subject without citizenship status (which entitles a person to a British passport) unless they had acquired citizenship of another Commonwealth country.
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