NEW DELHI: A passport is primarily a travel document and should not be treated as proof of citizenship, a senior external affairs ministry official said Wednesday at an event to highlight the expansion of passport services across the country on 14th Passport Seva Divas.The passport attests the nationality of Indians when they are abroad but it isn’t a document of citizenship, officials clarified in response to a query. This set off a raging discussion on X, with users asking what then counted as a conclusive proof of citizenship in India if documents such as passports, Aadhaar cards and voter IDs don’t make the cut?

Passport just a travel docu, not citizenship proof: MEA

While MEA’s clarification reiterates a legal position underlined in the past by court judgments, it assumes importance in light of debates around citizenship during the Election Commission’s special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. While hearing the Bihar SIR case, an SC bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said on Aug 12, 2025, “The use of Aadhaar while filing claims and objections would strictly be as proof of identity and not as evidence of Indian citizenship.” X users reacted sharply to MEA officials’ observations on passport. One user posted an image of a passport showing nationality as Indian and asked, “What is this then??”Another wrote: “Passport is not a document of citizenship, Aadhar card is not a document of citizenship, Voter ID card is not a document of citizenship. Then what is??” One user called the statement “bizarre”, posting, “The very ministry of external affairs that issues our passport so we can prove we are Indian citizens abroad, now says it’s not proof of citizenship? Does our own passport hold no value in our own country anymore?” There appears to be little clarity on what documents are legally valid in establishing citizenship. Govt’s Press Information Bureau, in a Q&A related to the National Register of Citizens had stated on Dec 20, 2019: “Citizenship can be proved by submitting any documents related to date of birth and place of birth. However, a decision is yet to be taken on such acceptable documents.”