Passport is not a citizenship document: senior MEA official

The Indian passport is a “travel document” and not a “citizenship document”, a senior official of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Wednesday (June 24, 2026). The purpose of the Indian passport is to help Indians transit and travel through foreign ports and territories and it should not be compared with other documents that are used to establish citizenship rights, the official said.

Highlighting the importance of passports in connecting the Indian workforce with the global economy, MEA officials said that the government will intensify mobility engagements with western nations and Japan in the coming months to help Indian citizens get secure employment opportunities in these industrialised economies.

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Travel document only

“Passport is a travel document, not a document of citizenship and theoretically speaking that distinguishes passport from other documents. Even though while travelling abroad, passport attests to your nationality, yet it is not a document of your citizenship,” a senior official said, in response to a question from The Hindu on whether the Indian passport could be used to challenge an exclusion from the voter list through the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls that is currently underway in sixteen States.

Another MEA official said that the Indian passport is issued “after a lot of due diligence and we make sure that the person who gets it is actually entitled, and we also base ourselves on documents from several government agencies like the Aadhar, PAN Card.”

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Ethical migration

The second official said that the MEA will host a major event on international mobility – the Human Resource Mobility Forum to be held in New Delhi from June 30 to July 1 – that will focus on countries like Italy, Germany, Japan, Russia, and Denmark.

A large number of recruitment agencies from across the country are expected to participate in the event that will highlight ethical migration and create awareness about how to avoid unscrupulous agents that use illegal means to send Indians to conflict zones and high risk areas. “We have to demolish the myths that one can go to Italy or Greece using unfair means and then send home lots money,” the official said.

Speaking on the occasion of the 14th Passport Seva Divas, marked on June 24, the official said that 27 countries have given visa-free entry status to Indian passport holders, while 47 countries offer visas on arrival and 66 countries provide electronic-visas (e-visas) to Indian passport holders.

Growing passport network

The MEA official said that around 10% of Indian passport-holders possess an e-passport, a chip-based document. There are 545 passport seva kendras across the country catering to the needs of the growing number of passport applicants, and this passport network now covers almost every Lok Sabha constituency. In addition, one-stop centres for distressed women in the Indian diaspora have been opened in the Gulf countries and Singapore, supported by the Indian community. More such centres for Indian women facing domestic violence or other forms of distress are expected to be established in other countries.

”Team MEA reaffirms its commitment to keep making passport services delivery faster, more transparent and accessible…” External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on the occasion of Passport Seva Divas, noting that chip-enabled e-passports and the opening of new passport seva kendras (PSKs) have contributed to ease of travel helped Indians get global job opportunities.