Country

Pathways to Indian Residency and Citizenship

India

India has a narrow statutory citizenship-by-descent route for some people born abroad to an Indian parent, with strict timing, registration, and dual-citizenship limits. Many people with Indian parentage or ancestry instead use the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card, a lifelong status that grants the right to live, work, and own most property in India without a visa. This guide gathers India's citizenship and citizenship-adjacent pathways and links to the detailed requirements for each route.

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Ways to qualify

Ancestry & heritage

A parent, grandparent, or birth in the country can make you a citizen already — or let you claim it, often without relocating.

Indian Citizenship by Descent Indian citizenship by descent is a narrow statutory route for people born outside India to an Indian parent, with different rules for births before… citizenship India Diaspora Card OCI registration is for certain foreign citizens with a qualifying Indian-origin connection, minor children of Indian citizens, and some foreign… other