Why birth certificate is important for NRIs
On June 24, the Ministry of External Affairs clarified that a passport is merely a travel document, not a document proving citizenship. This statement came amid political controversy and highlighted the lack of a definitive identity document for India's 1.4 billion people. Birth certificates, which most people fill out once and then forget, play a crucial role in the identity verification process.
Recently, the government has been pushing for birth registration to become the backbone of identity verification, with the deadline for registration passing on October 1, 2023. From that date, the birth certificate became the default reference document for various processes like passport applications, school admissions, government jobs, property transactions, and welfare access.
The new Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2026 further tightens the rules on delayed registration, making birth registration non-optional and tightly supervised. While a birth certificate establishes birth and place of birth, it does not prove Indian citizenship, as citizenship is determined by the Citizenship Act, 1955, and its amendments based on the birth window and parents' citizenship status.
For NRIs with children born abroad, ensuring the birth certificate is registered and apostilled is crucial for various purposes like passport renewal, inheritance, and school admission in India.
Written by urgent.news from The Economic Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
