PANAJI: As the revocation of Indian passports of those who have acquired Portuguese nationality continues to unsettle people, the Goa government is asking the Centre to grant the OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) status to such Goans for a transition period.
Goa chief minister
Pramod Sawant
and the state’s NRI commissioner are due to discuss the revocation of Indian passports, after which a communication will be sent to the Union home ministry.
The foreigners regional registration office (
FRRO
), which comes under the Union home ministry, stopped issuing OCI cards to some Goans this year. This followed the Patto-based regional passport office’s move to revoke passports instead of issuing surrender certificates to people who have obtained Indian passports after registering their birth in Portugal.
“The state is asking the Union ministry of home affairs for an office memorandum so that the FRRO doesn’t create a problem while granting OCI cards to those who have had their passports revoked,” said a Goa government official.
The official added, “We are asking for OCI cards to be not denied on technicalities and that they be issued as per eligibility. This is a subject matter for the Government of India to resolve.”
The FRRO was caught unawares when the passport office this year began revoking passports of applicants who had registered their birth in Portugal and then applied for Indian passports.
Currently, OCI cards are not granted to those who have had their passports revoked as the cancelled passport/surrender certificate was a requirement for the card.
The regional passport office at Patto began to revoke the Indian passports of people who acquired Portuguese nationality this year, following an office memorandum issued by the ministry of external affairs (MEA) last November.
On Friday, the MEA submitted that 114 Indian passports were revoked by the regional passport office at Patto. The information was submitted in reply to a question from South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha.
TOI has learnt that the revocations began in 2023 and the figures refer to the revocations carried out this year, but the reply was merely to Sardinha’s question.
Sardinha had asked, “whether the ministry has data on the number of Goans and others who have had their passports revoked due to the possession of Bilhete de Identidade (BI) of Portugal, which they have changed to Cartao de Cidadao; if so, the details thereof during the last three years”.
Minister of state of external affairs V Muraleedharan replied that the regional passport office has received more than 2,000 applications during the past three years for the surrender of Indian passports from people who had acquired Portuguese nationality. He added that over the past three years, 114 passports were revoked by the RPO.
These 114 revocations related to the 2,000-odd applications received this year for the surrender of Indian passports, TOI has learnt.
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