New Delhi: A total of 4,52,109 (4.52 lakh) Indian citizens renounced Indian citizenship to be naturalized as foreign nationals across 117 countries from 2014 to 2017, the Ministry of External Affairs told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
The answer was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday in response to a question raised by CPI (M) MP from Tripura Jitendra Chaudhary. The United States alone had over 46,000 Indians become naturalized citizens.
Indians in the US were the second-highest group of naturalized citizens after Mexicans.
“Will the Minister of External Affairs be pleased to state whether a large number of Indians got foreign countries citizenship and if so, the details thereof; whether it is fact that more than 46,000 Indians got US citizenship in 2016, second only to Mexicans and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and the details of total number of Indians living in foreign countries?,” Chaudhary asked the government.
Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs General (Retired) VK Singh responded to the question in the Lok Sabha saying, “As per the information available with the Ministry, 4,52,109 Indian nationals have acquired foreign citizenship in 117 countries from years 2014 to 2017 (till date).”
Singh added that as per the 2016 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics published by the US Department of Homeland Security, a total of 46188 Indians were naturalized during the year 2016 as compared to 42213 during the year 2015. This report also states that Mexicans are the highest number (103550) of foreigners who were naturalized during the year 2016. During the year, the highest number of Indians were naturalized in California (10298), followed by New Jersey (5312), Texas (4670), and New York (2954).
The minister said, “Primary reasons for growing number of Indians being naturalized can be attributed to a large number of highly skilled professionals based in USA.
This is followed by the Indians who are engaged in various business activities.”
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