CAA applicants must declare passport status, surrender foreign passports: MHA

Applicants seeking citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, will have to submit an affidavit declaring whether they hold a valid or an expired passport from Pakistan, Afghanistan or Bangladesh, according to an amendment to Citizenship Rules notified by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday (May 18, 2026). The move comes days after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power for the first time in West Bengal, where a large number of the Matua community, the intended beneficiaries of CAA legislation reside.

Most of the Matuas, who migrated from neighbouring Bangladesh during different time-periods do not have sufficient documents to apply for citizenship under the CAA. The 2019 legislation, which became effective on March 11, 2024 through the notification of CAA Rules, requires an applicant to declare that they are foreigners along with a document issued by any government authority in Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan establishing their roots in the three countries.

The CAA Rules also enable local priests or a “locally reputed community institution” to issue the mandatory certificates certifying the faith of an applicant. CAA facilitates citizenship to six non-Muslim communities — Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Jain, Buddhist and Christian — from the three countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered India before December 31, 2014.

On Monday (May 18, 2026), the MHA inserted a paragraph in Schedule 1C of the CAA application form where the applicant must declare if he/she is “not in possession of a valid and/or expired passport(s) issued by the Government of Pakistan/Afghanistan/Bangladesh.” The form requires the applicant to provide the date and month of their entry to India and adds that they can be deprived of citizenship if the information is found to be incorrect.The inserted paragraph added that if the applicant is “in possession” of a valid or expired passport, then details such as the passport number, date and place of issue, date of expiry are to be provided and the passport is to be surrendered before the Senior Superintendent of Post or Superintendent of Post within 15 days of approval of citizenship application, the notification said.

Before the Assembly elections were declared in West Bengal, the MHA, in the months of February and March, notified four committees headed by Central government officials to clear the citizenship applications.Though the legislation was brought in for undocumented migrants, the Rules mentioned several documents to be provided by the applicants.