One change could take India to the football World Cup | Hacker News Reader

One change could take India to the football World Cup

theguardian.com

8 pointsPaulHoule9 comments

> Article 9 Constitution of India: Persons voluntarily acquiring citizenship of a foreign State not to be citizens. No person shall be a citizen of India by virtue of article 5, or be deemed to be a citizen of India by virtue of article 6 or article 8, if he has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of any foreign State.

So that’s that. India does not permit dual citizenship. And that can’t be changed without a Constitutional Amendment. Not as hard as changing the Constitution in America, but harder than passing a law in Parliament.

The article mentions OCI (Overseas Citizen of India). This is easy to apply for and most people who give up their Indian citizenship apply for it immediately and are granted it within weeks. But it’s not real citizenship. It’s a visa that allows the holder to visit India whenever they want to. It does not allow the holder to vote, or represent the country in sport.

And like any visa, it can be cancelled unilaterally on a whim. (https://www.siasat.com/days-after-arrest-for-anti-hindutva-r...)

OTOH, this automatic cancellation is very useful if one wants to obtain another citizenship.

When I went through a process of relinquishing my previous citizenship, it included:

- 11 documents,

- 10 apostilles,

- many authorized translations,

- several photos (?!),

- notarizing my signature at the consulate,

- receiving two documents via regular mail from my birth country (IIRC this service is now discontinued, and one has to go to obtain these documents in person, and no, power of attorney is not accepted, and yes, the country in question is at war, so any man trying to do so risks being drafted and sent to frontlines immediately),

- several thousand euro in various fees,

- many hours spent preparing documentation,

- ~6 months from the beginning of the process to the end.

You still have to surrender your Indian passport within 3 months to avoid getting prosecuted.

This process also includes a visit to their embassy, giving them your original naturalisation certificate and photocopies of your new passport.

Takes about a month to receive a certificate from India for proof but definitely not as bad as what you described.

> Under Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sport rules, India does not allow players – or anyone else for that matter – to have dual nationality

Nationality is not governed by Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sport rules. I can't tell if this is just sloppy editing by the Grauniad or if I am missing something. The terribly named OCI is not citizenship. Are they actually suggesting that India should allow dual-citizenship for footballers?

The easiest path into the World Cup is to host it. That is something which is easily achievable should Modi wish it.

> UK work permits have been close to impossible to obtain for players from countries with the kind of low ranking India has

It should be based on the person's ability, not the country they're from.

In the U.S. I think Indians have a terrible time with immigration, I think because we have quotas per country that are the same for the size of the country and India is such a large country.

It's particularly a problem because so many Indian immigrants are highly educated, speak good English and are ready to jump into high-tech jobs so from a selfish viewpoint the U.S. would benefit greatly from having more of them.

Instead many of them are struggling to get green cards, stuck in H-1B hell, etc.

While the surface intent is probably kindly, I can't help but feel (given the history between the two countries) it's slightly bad taste, or old-fashioned, for a rep of England to grandstand about the laws of India, and to have a worldview of India that is centralised around Indians arranging their world so they can play England-centric games. Cricket may be enough!

Between 1880 to 1920, British colonial policies in India claimed more lives than all famines in the Soviet Union, Maoist China and North Korea combined - Al Jazeera, 2022.

See also the Amritsar massacre, and the partitioning of India.

More downvotes please. In this context, it is an honour to be disassociated with those of you who do not understand what a trite and inappropriate thing it is for British media to grandstand about Indian constitutional law, over the matter of Britain's national recreational pastime.

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