אזרחות מלידה — ללא תנאי jus soli (לפני 1987)

A person qualifies under IN-BTH-01 if ALL of the following hold: (1) the person was born in India (territorial requirement, s3(1) chapeau); by s2(2) a person born aboard a registered ship or aircraft, or an unregistered ship/aircraft of a government, is deemed born where that vessel was registered or in that country. (2) The date of birth is on or after 26 January 1950 and before 1 July 1987 (s3(1)(a)). (3) Neither s3(2) exclusion applies. Crucially, there is NO parent-nationality condition for this cohort: a child born in India in the window to two foreign parents, to a single foreign parent, or to parents of any immigration status, is a citizen by birth — the pure jus-soli rule India operated before the 1987 restriction (jus_soli_scope 'broad'). The s2(3) posthumous rule fixes the father's status at his death where the child is born after the father dies, but for s3(1)(a) parental status is not an eligibility element in any event. Present-day retention of that citizenship is subject to the no-dual rule: a person who later voluntarily acquired a foreign citizenship ceased to be a citizen under s9(1).

IN-BTH-01 confers citizenship by operation of law at birth; there is no application, grant, or registration constitutive of the status. Proof, not conferral, is the practical task: eligibility is evidenced by a birth record (birth certificate under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act 1969, or equivalent contemporaneous documentation) establishing place of birth in India and a date within 26 January 1950 to before 1 July 1987. Where birth occurred aboard a ship or aircraft, s2(2) supplies the deemed place of birth. A person seeking confirmation of citizenship in case of doubt may be certified under s13 (Certificate of Citizenship in case of doubt), which is conclusive evidence of citizenship on its date unless obtained by fraud. Because the status vests automatically, no s3(2) waiver or consular step exists for this route. Downstream identity documentation (Indian passport under the Passports Act 1967) is issued on proof of citizenship, not as the source of it. Any subsequent voluntary acquisition of foreign citizenship triggers automatic loss under s9(1) and the operational surrender regime (IN-LOSS-02).

IN-BTH-01 rests on section 3(1)(a) of the Citizenship Act 1955, which provides that (subject to sub-section (2)) 'every person born in India.. (a) on or after the 26th day of January, 1950, but before the 1st day of July, 1987.. shall be a citizen of India by birth.' For this cohort acquisition is UNCONDITIONAL jus soli: the nationality, domicile, or immigration status of the parents is legally irrelevant. Birth within Indian territory during the window, absent a sub-section (2) exclusion, is by itself sufficient. The operative consolidated text is the version SUBSTITUTED for the original section 3 by Act 6 of 2004, s. 3 (w.e.f. 3 December 2004) — so even though the rule governs births back to 1950, its current wording dates from the 2004 substitution (provenance footnote, IN-PRIMARY-02 line 163). The territorial anchor is the s3(1) chapeau 'every person born in India', extended by the s2(2) ship/aircraft deeming rule. This is the terminus a quo of India's jus-soli erosion arc and, as of 2026-07, remains fully operative to determine the citizenship of anyone born in the window.