Indian nationals who are in the process of obtaining nationality of other country or have already obtained citizenship of other
country)
Indian passport holders are required to surrender their passports to the nearest Indian Embassy/Consulate immediately after acquisition of foreign nationality as Indian Citizenship Act does not allow dual citizenship (there is sometimes misconception that Overseas Citizenship of India Card is dual citizenship). However, it has been observed that many individuals continue to retain their Indian passports and some even use to travel on Indian passports; there are yet others who get fresh Indian passports issued by suppression of information even several years after they acquired foreign citizenship. Since misuse of the Indian Passports, as described above, constitute offences under Section 12(1A) of the Passport Act 1967, the Government of India decided to impose penalty on a graded scale for such violations as per details given below:
S. No.
Scenario
Penalty
1.
Passport not surrendered up to three years and not used for travel after obtaining foreign passport.
No penalty
2.
Passport not surrendered up to three years and traveled once after obtaining foreign passport.
No penalty for retention of passport but penalty of
Rs.10,000/- for travel on Indian Passport
3.
Passport not surrendered up to three years and traveled more than once after obtaining foreign passport
No penalty for retention of passport but penalty of
Rs.10,000/- for each travel on Indian Passport (aggregate penalty on travel not to exceed Rs. 50,000/-)
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