Indian Government will confirm the nationality of illegal immigrants in UK

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between India and UK that will allow children born to Indians staying illegally in the United Kingdom an emergency travel documents to return along with parents based on birth certificates issued by the British authorities.

An inquiry will be conducted by UK authorities to identify a person is Indian or not before illegal immigrants are allowed to return.

The MoU has been revised because India declined to its initial proposal where the UK demanded DNA sampling to prove the nationality of illegal immigrants who do not have documents and the UK government suspects them to be Indians.

The UK government estimates that there are 100,000 Indians who are illegal immigrants or are overstaying their visa but India contested the numbers saying that the figure is not more than 2,000.

The revised MoU has granted 30 days period to verify the nationality of a person having Indian passport or who has overstayed the visa on receiving request from UK authorities.

A period of 90 days will be granted where a person acknowledges that he/she is Indian but does not have a passport or a ‘Visa Overstayer’ document. This will be permitted on one condition where UK authorities will have to provide a national identity card, a driving license or a birth certificate to the Indian authorities to validate her/his Indian nationality.

In an another condition where a person refuses to cooperate with the nationality verification process the antecedent check will be done “case to case” basis within a appropriate time frame.

The same procedure will be followed by the UK if a British national is found illegally staying in India.

The MoU came into effect just after it was signed on May 4 and will continue for seven years until discontinued by either participant giving three months’ prior written notice. It will be reinstituted automatically after seven years.