Atlanta, GA: The Government of India has relented to an overwhelming opposition to the retroactive enforcement of the new rules for surrender of the Indian passport. The latest notice posted on the website of Consul General of India in New York and San Francisco, says, "In supercession of previous rules, Government of India has decided that Persons of Indian origin who have already acquired foreign citizenship up until 31 May 2010 will not be required to pay renunciation fees of USD 175.00, he/she will be required to pay miscellaneous fees of USD 20.00 when getting the old Indian passport cancelled/surrendered.

In future those Indian citizens who acquire foreign citizenship on or after 01 June 2010 will have to submit declaration of renunciation of their Indian citizenship forms as given on website and fees of USD 175.00."

Several community activists, organization heads, individuals and the Indian American media banded together and unanimously condemned the retroactive enforcement of the new rules for obtaining "surrender certificate." Their individual and collective efforts created quick and informative awareness against the retroactive enforcement of the new rules. On May 23, 2010, the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO International) initiated an on-line petition addressed to the Prime Minister of India, titled "Opposition to Retroactive Enforcement of New Rules for Surrender of Indian Passport". As of this date, close to 29,000 people have signed this online petition to the Prime Minister of India against the retroactive enforcement of the new rules for surrender of Indian passports by naturalized citizens of other countries. By signing the petition, the former Indian citizens have expressed their strong opposition to the new rules and have vented their anger and frustration with their comments.

On May 28, 2010 GOPIO International sent a letter to Prime Minister of India, Hon. Dr Manmohan Singh, together with the first batch of over 19,000 signatures of people supporting the petition (the pdf file was about 1000 pages with signee names and comments), with the  requests to reconsider the retroactive enforcement of the new rules as many thousands of people could suffer undue and unnecessary hardship for no fault of their own. Indians who have been naturalized for years should be given the same 90 days window to obtain "surrender certificate" as being allowed to those Indians who become citizens of other countries now, without payment of fee or penalty. And secondly, to reduce the service fee from $175 to a reasonable amount of $25 (USD) after the first 90 days

"We at GOPIO International acknowledge and appreciate the overwhelming support from the global Indian community from all corners of the world. We believe that this massive level of support made a tremendous difference in the outcome of our appeal - retraction of the enforcement of the new rules. We also acknowledge the efforts of Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to respond to our concerns promptly and take remedial action," said a press release issued by GOPIO.   

    
       
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