Nearly 26,000 Goans surrendered their Indian passports in the last decade, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has said in the state legislative Assembly, reported The Indian Express on Wednesday.

Sawant’s statement came in response to a question by Congress MLA Yuri Alemao. Citing a report from the Foreigners Regional Registration Office, the chief minister said that 25,939 Goans surrendered their Indian passports between January 1, 2014, and March 31, 2024.

The report said 2,037 individuals applied for new visa/exit services upon surrendering their Indian passports in 2014, according to The Indian Express.

This number rose sharply to 4,121 by 2016, before decreasing slightly to 3,623 in 2017 and further to 2,958 in 2019. In 2021, amid travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the number dropped to 954 before increasing to 2,094 in 2023.

Quoting unidentified officials, the newspaper reported that a significant number of individuals from the state surrendered their Indian passports to obtain Portuguese nationality.

Portugal extends citizenship to those born in Goa before December 19, 1961 – the date of Goa's liberation from Portuguese rule – and two subsequent generations. Possession of a Portuguese passport allows visa-free access to numerous countries, including the United Kingdom and the European Union.

Consequently, many Goans in recent decades have been registering their births in Portugal to acquire Portuguese citizenship, enabling them to pursue employment and educational opportunities abroad.

After a Ministry of External Affairs directive dated November 30, 2022, many Goans were unable to obtain the Overseas Citizenship of India cards as the Centre had instructed authorities to revoke passports instead of issuing a “surrender certificate”.

This certificate is one of the mandatory documents to obtain the card.

In June, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that a “passport revocation order” could be considered an alternative document for the card.