Migrants Won’t Automatically Become Citizens: MHA Source

NEW DELHI:
No migrant, specified in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, will automatically become a citizen of India and each one will have to apply online, Home Ministry sources said on Monday.

The new Act applies to people of six non-Muslim communities — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians — from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who have migrated to India due to religious persecution as of December 31, 2014. As per the Ministry sources, the migrants will have to fulfil all other conditions for registration and naturalisation as Indian citizen.

They said the Citizenship Rules will be framed soon. The CAA also does not apply to Indian citizens at all, said the sources, adding it is to confer Indian citizenship to specified persecuted nationals from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

The information comes in the wake of violence in various parts of the country, including Delhi and northeastern states, after the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was cleared by Parliament on Wednesday and got the President’s approval next day, making it a law. As per the Act, such migrants will not be treated as illegal immigrants now.