New Delhi: The Union Home Ministry has announced that members of six minority communities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who entered India on or before December 31, 2024, will be allowed to stay in the country even without valid passports or travel documents.
The order applies to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who fled religious persecution or fear of persecution and sought shelter in India. The move extends protection to those who entered the country after the earlier cut-off date of December 31, 2014, specified in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.
The ministry clarified that such persons will now be exempt from provisions of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, and the Foreigners Act, 1946, which mandate possession of valid passports and visas. The order was issued under the newly implemented Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025.
“The exemption will cover individuals who entered India without documents or whose documents, including passports and visas, have expired,” the notification said.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024, notified in March this year, had laid down the process for granting Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities from the three neighbouring countries who arrived before December 31, 2014. The latest order provides relief to those who came after that date and were uncertain about their legal status.
Officials said the decision will particularly benefit a large number of Hindu migrants from Pakistan who entered India in recent years.