The Hindu Business Line : Dual citizenship — Driven by pride and pragmatism

India's move to allow dual citizenship can be seen as another step ahead of an emerging global power that will allow unhindered trade in services and free the citizenry to pursue opportunities wherever they arise. But a contrary view on dual citizenship may be inspired by pure emotion rather than business-like pragmatism, says Bhanoji Rao.

THE move to grant dual citizenship to eligible NRIs (non-resident Indians) began in December 2003, when Parliament passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003, under which those eligible to become citizens of India as on January 26, 1950, could apply for dual Indian citizenship. Rules giving effect to this were notified in March 2004.

Persons of Indian origin who were citizens of Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Cyprus, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States were eligible to apply for dual citizenship. A person who has been at any time a citizen of Pakistan, Bangladesh or any other country that the Government may notify in future is not entitled to dual citizenship.

On January 7, at a major NRI meet in Mumbai, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, announced the extension of dual citizenship to all those who were holding the Person of Indian Origin Card (PIOC) and who had migrated from India after the formation of the Indian Republic.

It would thus seem that more countries would have to be added to the 16 noted earlier in order to facilitate the PIOC holders to benefit from the new initiative.

While the PIOC allows the NRI to spend no more than six months in India on any one visit, dual citizenship permits indefinite stay, like any Indian citizen. However, dual citizenship does not give voting rights to the NRI. The implication is clearly one of granting citizenship and not nationality, which is a different matter, since no one can be the national of more than one country at the same time.

Dual citizens do not have voting rights and are not eligible to be elected to public office. Further, dual citizens are not to be treated as citizens for the purpose of taxation; instead, they will be on a par with the NRIs for tax purposes.

Public opinion on the matter of dual citizenship is broadly in line with what one expects from a free and fair country. Going by the letters to editors as also the and views and comments in the media, most Indians felt happy that their kith and kin in foreign lands can come and go freely, like any Indian citizens. Many also hope that the dual citizens would do more for the economy and society here.

A letter-writer felt that Indian citizenship should not be given just like that to those who essentially left the `motherland' in preference to an adopted land and who perhaps had to throw away the Indian passport at the time of her/his converting to a different nationality.

Hidden behind such a sentiment is the feeling that the pride in Indian citizenship is lost since it will now be available as a different package in the External Affairs superstore to an exclusive club of buyers.

The fact of the matter is that not all can opt for dual citizenship; it all depends on whether the laws of the other country permit it. Some countries — notably those listed in the second paragraph above — allow dual citizenship, while others do not. In fact, before granting their citizenship, some countries (Singapore, for instance) require that all other citizenships/passports be renounced.

But the US law does not insist on giving up the citizenship of the country of origin of the immigrant when she/he takes up American citizenship. This is in spite of the fact that the oath taken at the time of gaining US citizenship contains the pledge "to renounce and abjure absolutely and entirely all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which the applicant was before a subject or citizen." The rhetoric does not go as far as insisting on renouncing the passports of other countries.

The US does not require a new citizen to take formal steps to renounce his old citizenship. When the other country continues to claim a naturalised American citizen as one of its own, current US policy recognises that such a person may have to use a passport from the other country in order to visit there, and such an action does not put the person's US citizenship in jeopardy.

In respect of Australian law, a government Web site providing pertinent information in the form of Q&A notes: "Becoming an Australian citizen involves a serious commitment but the process is relatively simple. Processing time can vary, if all documentation is provided at the time of lodgement or at interview, it may take up to 30 days for a decision to be made on your application. Once your application has been approved, arrangements will be made for you to attend a citizenship ceremony."

To the question, "Isn't citizenship just a legal formality?" the answer is: "It is much more than that... It is an important way to formalise your commitment to Australia and share in its future. It also carries with it substantive legal rights, such as the right to vote in elections, stand for Parliament, work in the public service, or serve in the armed forces.

"Citizenship also entitles you to hold an Australian passport, which can make it easier to re-enter the country if you leave to travel overseas. You also have the right to register your children as Australian citizens by descent if they are born overseas."

On the issue of current citizenship, if one becomes an Australian citizen, the answer is straightforward: "Australia does not require you to renounce your citizenship when you become an Australian citizen. Whether you lose your former citizenship when you become an Australian citizen does not depend upon Australian citizenship law, but upon the citizenship laws of the other country."

India is not the only country to recently enact provisions for dual citizenship. In terms of the Republic Act No. 9225 that took effect on September 17, 2003, the Philippines declares that former natural-born Filipino citizens who acquired foreign citizenship through naturalisation are deemed not to have lost their Philippines citizenship under conditions provided in the Act. One can take a sanguine view and extrapolate that India's stand to allow dual citizenship is one more step in its role as an emerging and confident global power which, in the years to come, would help usher in what might eventually lead to the establishment a global citizenry with freedom of movement to pursue opportunities wherever they arise.

Unhindered movement of manpower will have to happen if trade in services must embrace all services and all countries, and it may not be too long before the equivalent of the UN Laissez Passer would be in place for mobile muscles and minds.

A contrary view on dual citizenship is likely to be driven by pure emotion rather than business-like pragmatism. A little over four decades ago, when I received my first passport and found in it the passage from the President of India seeking the cooperation of alien governments to allow my free passage without let or hindrance, I was touched by the concern my President had for me, an ordinary person. When I landed in New York and the immigration guy welcomed to me to a free country, I proudly retorted that I too came from an equally free country.

More recently, when a high authority in a foreign country asked me point-blank why I did not take his country's citizenship despite my close association with and love for that nation, I shot back: "Excellency, the fact that I love my adopted mother does not mean I give up my own mother" and I was immensely pleased when the other party expressed respect for my sentiment.

National flag, national identity, national oath, etc., are matters of heart and not head. Intellectual hair-splitting might help carefully distinguish nationality and citizenship; for most ordinary people, the difference gets blurred. Yet, dual citizenship falls into place if what we have in mind is the scenario I have often sought: The External Affairs Ministry working relentlessly for visa-less travel for Indian citizens, and the Commerce Ministry seeking free movement of Indian nationals for employment abroad.

(The author, formerly with the World Bank and the National University of Singapore, is Professor Emeritus, GITAM Institute of Foreign Trade, Visakhapatnam. E-mail:bhanoji@vsnl.net )

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