As per section 4(1) of the Citizenship Act 1955, if Indian citizenship is required for a child born to Indian parents in a foreign country, the birth of the child must be registered at the nearest Indian Embassy or Consulate within one year of the date of the birth of the child. For only after the child gets registered as an Indian citizen, he or she becomes a citizen of India and eligible for a passport or any other services rendered for an Indian citizen.
The Indian mission or post can attest the birth certificate issued by the authorities in India, as the birth certificate issued by the competent authorities are authenticated by the Home Department of the concerned state territory in India and then by the attestation section of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), New Delhi or the MEA branch secretariats in Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Guwahati.
Under section 3 of the Citizenship Act 2009, a person can apply for registration of birth of his minor child born outside the territories of India, to the Indian Consulate in the country where such child was born, with a declaration that the child does not contain a passport of any country.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, which administers the matters related to citizenship has released a notification that from now on, it is mandatory to register online, all the children whose birth take place abroad. For example, every child born in Dubai or any other Northern Emirates of UAE should be registered with the Consulate General of India, Dubai within one year. The application must be submitted online, primarily.
Another example we can see is of the US. An Indian child born in the US automatically gains citizenship of US. It is important to understand that the child born there is a US citizen by birth even if parents explicitly apply for his Indian passport. To register a child’s birth in the USA with the Indian embassy having jurisdiction over the current residential address of parents in the USA: Both the parents should sign a declaration of non-acquisition of US nationality by the child and consent to the issue an Indian passport to the child. The form is required to be submitted online for the requirement of the passport.
Similarly, there are different regulations in different countries in the case of an Indian child born in the country to obtain an Indian passport. Following are the few standard guidelines described in order to gain an Indian passport for a newborn.
All the instructions mentioned on the website of MHA must be followed, and submit the application form after the completion of the procedure. Then the printout must be taken of the form which contains a photograph of the child, the signature of the parents and the MHA file number.
Following documents must be submitted in order to register and apply for the passport of the newborn baby:
Copy of the application submitted online for registration of Birth under section 4(1) of Citizenship Act 1955, with an original photograph of the child pasted and signature of parents at designated places in the form printed
Copy of passport and visa of parents
Passport application for the newborn child
Copy of marriage certificate of parents
Copy of IDs of both parents (issued by the country of residence)
A declaration signed by both the parents that the minor does not possess a passport of any other country
Original documents of the child must be shown while submitting the passport application of the minor child. In case any parent is not of Indian origin, the column in the online application seeking parents’ details regarding Indian citizenship should be left empty. At least in one of the parents’ passports, the spouse’s name must be mentioned which will clarify the names of the parents. It is not possible to include the name of the child in the passport of the parents. There is no need to bring the newborn child to the Indian passport Application center.
Though the procedure of online application for the registration of newborn children to Indian parents abroad is equal for the Indian nationals living outside the country, a few of the regulations might differ in different countries as per the laws of the country. Parents while registering their newborns in the concerned Indian Embassy must follow all the instructions given by the Embassy and fulfill all the criteria of acquiring the passport for their newborn.
