532. Nepali citizens cannot apply

for PIO Card or OCI but can apply

for Indian Citizenship

Question: hello sir, my parents are indian but by birth i got my citizenship of nepal,,can i hold indian citizenship too??can i get my parental property of india?? please do clear my queries early.. thanks and regards Purushottam Pandey Answer: Yes you can get your parents property in India! but as for your other question regarding Indian citizenship, you cannot hold both citizenships of Nepal and India at the same time! To clarify: • Neither Nepal nor India allow their citizens to hold dual nationality. • Citizens of Nepal cannot get PIO Cards because any person who at any time was a citizen of Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are not eligible for a PIO Cards. [Update: The PIO scheme has been canceled by the Government of India as of 09-01-2015] • Citizens of Nepal cannot OCI cards also. This is because as per rules the applicant for OCIs country of citizenship (Nepal in your case) must allow dual citizenship in some form or other under their local laws. Nepal does not allow dual citizenship! • You can as a Nepali citizen still apply for Indian citizenship provided you fulfill the residency requirements in India Indian citizenship can be acquired by 1. Birth 2. Registration 3. Naturalization • Indian Citizenship by Birth: As you were born in Nepal you cannot claim citizenship by birth. • Indian Citizenship by Registration: One of the requirements of getting citizenship through registration is being resident in India for seven years before making an application for registration as a Indian Citizen and is married to a citizen of India or whose parents are registered as citizens of India. • Indian Citizenship by Naturalization is for foreigners who are not of Indian origin and have been resident in Indian legally for twelve years. The information I have provided above is general in nature. For exact wording and more details of the applicable citizenship laws of India, refer to the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955. If you are successful in getting Indian citizenship by Registration or Naturalization, you would have to renounce your Nepali citizenship, you cannot keep both!