Author: Ravi Kumar Chaudhary, CMP Degree College Prayagraj

Over the last few decades, the craze among Indians to be settled internationally has gained momentum and now it has become the subject of thought in the Indian society. Though that the number of people renouncing Indian citizenship are on rise with 15 lacs (1.5 million) leaving in the past 10 years and nearly 2 lacs in 2024 alone. This outflow includes a significant proportion of highly skilled people and high net-worth individuals who can contribute to India’s economy and development.
The data as per the Ministry of External Affairs (Government of India) provides that the people who gave up their citizenship was 1,44,017 (in 2019); 85,256 (in 2020);1,63,370 (in 2021); 2,25,620 (in 2022) and 2,16,219 (in 2023). For reference purpose, data was 1,22,819 (in 2011); 1,20,923 (in 2012); 1,31,405 (in 2013); 1,29,328 (in 2014); 1,31,489 (in 2015); 1,41,603 (in 2016); 1,33,049 (in 2017); 1,34,561 (in 2018). Country wise and Year wise list of Indian citizens who have given up their citizenship since 2017 (Only Includes the top countries as per the numbers).

Country	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
USA	50803	57603	61683	30828	55559
Australia	20669	16990	21340	13518	14416
England	19335	16761	14309	6489	9299
Canada	17372	19714	25381	17093	11869
Italy	7697	5227	3833	2312	4871

The Ministry of External Affairs (Government of India) have also provided the list of (135) countries where Indian people have settled after renouncing their citizenship.

Factors Influencing Migration

1.Migration for Opportunities: Better opportunity has been the prominent reason for the Indian citizens to move abroad as it makes them earning a better lifestyle for them. In comparison of the India people have better opportunities in abroad and that’s not totally wrong thing to do to move abroad for better opportunities or education, but the scale of people giving up their citizenship is alarming and raises questions about the Indian system’s ability to inspire confidence and deliver basic services. They feel that they are not getting the proper opportunities due to the several problems like the political and bureaucratic governance, not getting the proper infrastructure, tax burdens etc.

2.Poor Quality of Life: People who had given their citizenship has a common thing between them that is they all are from the class who has high net-worth and when people have the enough purchasing power they will always look for a better standard of life which they feel that they are not getting that in India. People who have high purchasing power would definitely expect a better lifestyle and that is what makes them realize to give up their citizenship. They don’t feel that the Indian public infrastructure is adequate enough after paying too much taxes and overall dissatisfaction from the governance and living conditions in India also enforces them to renounce their citizenship.

3.Acces to Social Security Benefits, Healthcare and Education: Though that after paying heavy taxes they feel that India still lacks in healthcare sector to provide better medical infrastructure for their people and similarly settling abroad provides the social security too as they get better benefits and support during their sickness, disability. They also got benefits and support for families in case of loss of the breadwinner.

4.Ease of Travel and Visa free Access:  As of 2025, Indian passport ranks around 77^th to 85^th in global passport rankings. The Henley Passport Index Q1 2025 placed India at 85^th, offering visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 59 countries. This ranking marks a decline from 80^th place in the previous year. A recent update noted a significant rise for India from 88^th to 77^th. while the countries where mostly Indians go has a better passport rank than India.

Countries which have the better passport ranks:

Country	2025Passport      Rank	Estimated-Visa-free countries*
USA	10	182
Australia	7	185
Italy	3	189
England	6	186
Canada	8	184
Singapore	1	193
New Zealand	5	187
Source: The Official Passport Ranking

5. Government and Sensitive Jobs Abroad: Like in most of the nations an individual should hold permanent citizenship to have the government job similarly most of the Indian citizens have renounced their citizenship for the jobs in abroad as per the demands of that nation. India too demands the permanent citizenship in most of the public sector jobs.

Most of the Indian nationals have renounced their citizenship just because India doesn’t allow dual citizenship for the Indians and it forces the NRIs to renounce their citizenship just to secure the government jobs outside India.

6.Higher Income Potential: Indians have finally realized that they have better earning potential outside India, Income disparity between India and Abroad has a huge gap in between so just to have a better lifestyle and better living conditions in bare minimum taxation; Indians are now becoming more attracted towards moving abroad. Despite of paying a good amount of 30% on income the people here don’t have a good standard of living.

7.Cleaner Environment and Quality of Life: In past years it’s been found that Indians have moved to the countries like USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, England (UK), UAE, Singapore and all these countries have clean environment and a better quality of life in terms of living standards in comparison to India. Most of the cities of the mentioned countries have a good environment than that of Indian cities. For example: During the month of October to December most of the Indian cities faces the problem of Poor Air Quality Index (AQI).

The Indian capital city (Delhi) data of maximum recorded AQI for the year.

8.Political Instability: India being a developing nation has more prone to ethnic and tensions and socio riots since its independence , with the increasing corruption rate and poor governance raises security concerns among the people having high net worth while the abroad countries provide better support to the migrants in terms of assurance given for the protection of the rights , protection given to the migrants under the local laws and non-discriminatory practices provides have been beneficial to the migrants that attracts them to renounce their citizenship.

9.Social Pressure: As India has so much diverse culture and rituals that changes with every certain distance and as India ranks 3^rd in having millionaire; now this has become disguise in blessing because every action here might lead to a tension among any group or religion which forces the millionaires to act wisely. In India every business or start up basically runs on people’s emotion otherwise it’s difficult for the business to survive without people belongingness towards any service or product.

10.Historical Context of India’s Economic Downturn: India has the historical background of economic downturn like in 1991, India was in midst of a deep economic crisis. This crisis centered on a balance of payments deficit, mainly caused by an over-reliance on imports, along with the collapse of the soviet bloc, with which India had a rupee exchange in trade. In another economic crisis of 2008, Indian stock market crashed which led to the loss for many people, banking, industries, real estate sector were hit hard by market crash. This incident led to the downgrade of the Indian rupee as compared to the other currencies.

11.Globalistaion: The 3^rd wave of globalization has opened the access to world market for the international people which have now become a push factor for the Indian nationals who has high net-worth to settle down internationally. Indian businesspersons now find foreign markets more stable than the Indian market which also enforces them to run their businesses from abroad which automatically results into the renouncement of the citizenship. Another factor is Indian market has more fluctuation than the foreign markets as Indian market deviates with political instability and lots of variables around that.

12. Favorable Jobs Outside India: In comparison to India, Indians feel that they have favorable jobs outside India as they get better job opportunities in sectors experiencing significant labor shortages, skilled professionals, especially in Information Technology, healthcare etc. and not only better opportunities but the recognition and reward too, proper working environment and better amenities at workplace with own terms expediates the Indians to renounce their citizenship.

13.International Education: The Indian students who have gone for international education in regard to achieve higher degree from an internationally recognized institution are more likely to be settled their after the completion of their degree as they not only achieve their degree but also they will gain exposure and experience diverse culture as students from various countries go for better education in foreign institution , they understands the world class academic institution and teaching methodology . The foreign institution not only provide degree but also the employment opportunities just after the completion of the degree is also a pull factor to renounce the Indian citizenship. Countries like Singapore provides the Tuition Grant Scheme under which International students are typically required to work for a Singaporean entity for 3 years after graduation; this is a condition of the tuition grant, which subsidizes their education cost.

CONCLUSION

It is to be concluded that the ongoing trend among Indians renouncing their citizenship to settle abroad draws more attraction on the issues of social, economic and systemic factors which are significantly influencing the decision. To tackle the recent trend the Indian government should adopt the different policies like tax rebate, better environment protection policies.

REFERENCES

Primary Sources

Ministry of External Affairs (Government of India), Data on Indian Citizens Renouncing Citizenship 2011–2023 (MEA 2024).

Ministry of External Affairs (Government of India), Country-wise List of Indians Who Renounced Citizenship 2017–2023 (MEA 2024).

Ministry of External Affairs (Government of India), List of 135 Countries of Residence of Indians after Renouncing Citizenship (MEA 2024).

Secondary Sources

Henley & Partners, Henley Passport Index Q1 2025 (Henley & Partners 2025).

World Bank, Migration and Development Brief 2023 (World Bank 2023).

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), International Migration 2022: Highlights (UN 2022).

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), International Migration Outlook 2023 (OECD 2023).

The Official Passport Ranking, Global Passport Ranking Data (2025).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Sources

Ministry of External Affairs (Government of India), ‘Data on Indian Citizens Renouncing Citizenship 2011–2023’ (MEA 2024)

Ministry of External Affairs (Government of India), ‘Country-wise List of Indians Who Renounced Citizenship 2017–2023’ (MEA 2024)

Ministry of External Affairs (Government of India), ‘List of 135 Countries of Residence of Indians after Renouncing Citizenship’ (MEA 2024)

Secondary Sources

Henley & Partners, ‘Henley Passport Index Q1 2025’ (Henley & Partners 2025)

World Bank, ‘Migration and Development Brief 2023’ (World Bank 2023)

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, ‘International Migration 2022: Highlights’ (UN 2022)

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Developme