Indian students have been temporarily settling abroad in search of quality education and achieve excellence in a specific domain for years. Besides the U.S. and the UK, it is now Australia that has introduced “Post Study Work Policy” for Indians.

It implies that the students from India will have Australia as a great option for attaining premium quality education and the opportunity to work in abroad. Together with excellence, they could interact with multicultural environment, which is a prominent reason to prefer this continent.

A report by the “Council of International Education in Australia” states that the count of Indian students has swelled by 71% since 2014, i.e.107, 673 students in 2018-19. The education minister revealed the quantum of contribution, which is worth $5.5 billion, by highly educated Indian students in their economy.      

The country has registered 39% growth in the number of enrollments in Australia in 2019 over the last year, as per an official deployed in the Australian High Commission in India. These counts of enrollments mark the second largest group of the foreign students. Chinese students are at on the top of this marathon.

Facilities in Varsities

Already, the ‘post study work policy’ has started attracting Indian aspirants. The opportunity to be absorbed in reputed and prestigious jobs has always been in the place. But now, it is emphasized for up to four years.

Australian varsities are called safe and comfortable to accommodate students with exclusive research facilities, as told Australian Education Minister Dan Trehan.  As far as the research facilities are concerned, they would pertain to distinctive fields of international students.  

Also, some more attractive scholarships for international students will be launched, if they choose varsity besides Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney.

These announcements have put Indian pupils on the pathways to be ready for surrendering their citizenship in the future. However, it cannot be as easy as it echoes. They will have to map themselves through criteria set under the immigration rules. Certainly, the information over the renunciation certificate can help them foresee the change of citizenship procedure.

Renunciation Certificate:

Certainly, it is concerned with citizenship. Some migrants have the misconception that the OCI card obliges with a dual citizenship. But indeed, there is no such policy. Even, India does not offer dual citizenship.

However, such individuals who have opted for Australian citizenship, let’s say, they continue to retain their Indian passports. Moreover, they use it to travel and even, get it renewed to avail a lot of pertaining services.

The matter of holding non-cancelled Indian passport upon acquiring a foreign citizenship is subjected to be sentenced or penalized. In short, it is a crime that can invite hefty penalties worth thousands of dollars together with the incarceration of 5 years.

Rules

If you have acquired foreign citizenship on or before May 31, 2010:

• No further action is required. Neither do you need a surrender certificate.
• You can access any consular facility, such as OCI, PIO or visa by providing “cancelled passport on acquisition of the U.S. nationality.”
• In case, you do not have such proof, you can apply for renunciation certificate.
• The ‘Cancelled Stamp’ of the Indian passport does not imply that you have surrendered Indian citizenship. Instead, you have to apply for the renunciation certificate.
• If you have acquired the foreign citizenship on or after June 1, 2010, you should apply for a naturalization or renunciation certificate.

Penalties associated with non-availability of renunciation certificate:

• The use of Indian passport is restricted to travel with post 3 months of acquiring foreign citizenship. The penalty would be in thousands of dollars towards travel.
• The renewal of passport is also prohibited once you resign your citizenship. The penalty could be $ 500 to $1000 in the U.S. for each renewal.
• The accessibility of miscellaneous services on keeping non-surrendered passport attracts penalty worth $250 for each service.
• The penalty would amount to $250, if the date of naturalization and present date is the period of more than 3 years
• If your passport is lost, damaged or surrendered before a foreign government, the penalty will be zero.

These are a few norms that the immigrants should always keep into account before acquiring any foreign citizenship.