Q.849 Shall I Sell property in

India Prior to Acquiring Foreign

Citizenship

Question: Dear Sir/Madam, I am a PR in Singapore and now planning to apply for the citizenship in Singapore. Currently I have properties in India. Both agricultural and plot and flat. If I get Singapore citizenship, can I hold my india property or I need to sell or transfer the property before getting the Singapore citizenship? Thanks & Regards, Devipriya [February 10, 2016] Answer: NRIs on acquiring foreign citizenship do not lose their assets in India that they have legally acquired and own. If the properties you own in India were legally acquired, you would be able to continue holding your properties such as flat, land etc. Their is no obligation to sell your properties unless you wish to do so. Even though NRIs cannot hold agricultural land in India, if you already owned agricultural land before your status changed to NRI, then you can continue to hold this land.

Agricultural land ownership in India

by NRIs

If you bought the agricultural land prior to becoming Non-Resident, you can continue to hold this agricultural land as an NRI and even after acquiring foreign citizenship. If you got ownership of the agricultural land by way of inheritance when you were an NRI, you can continue to own the agricultural land o If you decide at some point of time to sell the agricultural land, you can only sell this land to an Indian citizen who is resident in India. o If you decide to sell non-agricultural land or flat etc. You can sell to any Indian citizen who may be in India or abroad. You can also sell to a foreign citizen who is of India origin. The sale transaction of course would have to be done in India and money cannot be exchanged abroad. On the other hand, if a person bought agricultural land when they already held NRI status. Then their purchase could be considered to be questionable by the authorities as NRIs are not allowed to purchase agricultural land in India. In such a scenario, the agricultural land would have been purchased in contravention of the rules, and ownership by NRI or PIO may be deemed to be illegal.