More Than 1.6 Lakh Indians Renounced Their Citizenship in 2021: MHA in Lok Sabha

The data from the Ministry of Home Affairs pointed out that the United States still remains the preferred choice.

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Data released by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday, 19 July, showed that the number of Indians who gave up their citizenship in 2021 rose to 1,63,370 citizens from 85,256 in 2020. Over 1.4 lakh Indians had renounced their citizenship in 2019.

In a reply to Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP Haji Fazlur Rehman, Union Minister of State (MoS) of Home Affairs Nityanand Rai shared the information in Lok Sabha.

The BSP MP sought data and reasoning behind Indian nationals who relinquished their citizenship from 2019 to date. The MP also asked for details of the countries where these nationals received citizenship.

The data from the Ministry of Home Affairs pointed out that the United States, which remains the preferred choice, provided citizenship to 78,284 Indian nationals, an increase from 30,828 in 2020.

Meanwhile, Australia was the second-most preferred country in 2021, with as many as 23,533 Indians renouncing their citizenship in order to move to the region.

In 2020, 13,518 Indians had given up their citizenship for one in the land down under.

Canada, which sees a heavy influx of Indians for education and employment every year, however, slipped to number three in 2021 from second in 2020, with 21,597 Indians giving up their citizenship for Canada’s.

Here are top countries where Indians renounced their citizenship:

• United States (78,284 in 2021 compared to 30,828 in 2020

• Australia (23,533 in 2021 compared to 13,518 in 2020)

• Canada (21,597 in 2021 compared to 17,093 in 2020)

• United Kingdom (14,637 in 2021 compared to 6,489 in 2020)

• Italy (5,986 in 2021 compared to 2,312 in 2020)

• New Zealand (2,643 in 2021 compared to 2,116 in 2020)

• Singapore (2,516 in 2021 compared to 2,289 in 2020)

• Germany (2,381 in 2021 compared to 2,152 in 2020)

• The Netherlands (2,187 in 2021 compared to 1,213 in 2020)

• Sweden (1,841 in 2021 compared to 1,046 in 2020)

• Spain (1,089 in 2021 compared to 1,595 in 2020)