ON THE OCCASION of Passport Seva Diwas, June 24, 2025, The Ministry of External Affairs clarified that a passport is not a proof of citizenship, even though it is issued to Indian citizens only. The government has announced that an Indian passport is only considered as a travel document and will not be treated as a proof of citizenship.

The MEA is all set to organize a two-day Human Resource Mobility Forum from June 30, 2026 to July 1, 2026, involving Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and Denmark to facilitate networking between foreign employers and Indian citizens who are seeking jobs abroad. The Passport Seva Divas, celebrated on June 24, 2026, commemorates the enactment of the Passports Act in 1967.

‘Passport is not a proof of Indian Citizenship’

On June 24, 2026, Wednesday, the MEA stated that the passports will be considered as travel documents only, not a proof of an individual’s citizenship. The passports are issued by the government to facilitate international travel. It means that possessing a passport does not, by itself, define citizenship. “A passport is issued after a lot of due diligence, and it is based on documents from several government agencies,” a MEA official said.

'Then what is the proof?': Netizens asks MEA

X is flooded with memes and questions. “What is the proof of citizenship?” The social media is full of posts, where netizens had just one question to MEA - “What document is proof of an Indian citizenship?” They sought MEA's clarification on this, recalling how it earlier stated other documents such as Aadhar and PAN not a document to establish citizenship in India.

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According to the MEA, a total of 14.7 million e-passports have been issued as the chip-based documents were rolled out in 2025 as a part of a revamp of the Passport Seva Program. All the newly issued passports are currently chip-based passports. 

What are E-Passports?

The e-passports offer security and reduce the scope of unauthorized access or modification of data, as well as the possibility of obtaining the document through fraudulent means. “It is difficult to create fake passports, and the e-passports offer greater reassurance to immigration authorities abroad and make clearances faster,” an official stated.

The chips used in e-passports are sourced from the India Security Press in Nashik, which in turn sources them from abroad. The officials said that best practices from different countries were studied to make the Indian e-passports as robust as possible, and efforts were taken to enhance the security of these major documents.

Aditya Thackeray, Javed Akhtar Reacted

Aditya Thackeray posted on his X handle, “Does our country give passports as travel documents to non Indians as well? Wouldn’t this declaration create doubts in the minds of other countries, of whether non Indians get Indian Passports as a travel document? Beyond its very confused foreign policy, how absurd can the MEA become?"

See also: Assam Police Searches Pawan Khera’s Delhi Home Over Allegations Against CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s Wife For Holding ‘Illegal’ Passports And Foreign Properties

Javed Akhtar wrote on his X handle, “The Ministry of External Affairs says that a passport is a document of travel not the proof of citizenship . Really ??? So are they providing this travel document to some people without being totally convinced that this person is an Indian citizen?

Number of Countries offer Visa-Free Travel for Indians

A total of 27 countries are currently offering visa-free travel for Indian citizens, up from 16 in 2019, whereas 47 countries are offering visa-on-arrival services. A total of 66 countries offer e-visas to citizens of India. With 25 countries, mostly in Europe, India has migration and mobility agreements with them

The processing time for applications for passports has been cut to an average of 5 to 6 days, these steps will ensure that the applicants spend less than 45 minutes at a Passport Seva Kendra. There are a total of 544 kendras in the country.

(Edited By Khushboo Singh)

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