The Centre has decentralised the process of granting citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act, bringing district collectors directly into the decision-making process for eligible applicants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Under the Citizenship (Third Amendment) Rules, 2026, notified by the Ministry of Home Affairs, collectors in specified states and Union Territories will now be authorised to scrutinise and dispose of applications filed under Section 6B of the Citizenship Act, including determining whether an applicant qualifies for registration or naturalisation.
The move covers applicants ordinarily residing in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal, Assam and Tripura, excluding the tribal areas of Assam and Tripura, as well as Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Section 6B provides a citizenship route for Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain and Parsi migrants from the three neighbouring countries who fulfil the prescribed conditions.
The amendment marks a shift from the existing committee-based mechanism, under which Empowered Committees and District-Level Committees handled such applications. Pending applications before these committees in the specified jurisdictions will now be transferred to the concerned collectors.
Applicants will also be required to electronically submit their applications for registration or naturalisation to the collector having jurisdiction over their ordinary place of residence.
Once an application is received, an acknowledgement in Form IX will be generated electronically. The collector will verify the applicant’s documents and may conduct any inquiry considered necessary to establish their eligibility and suitability.
The collector will also administer the Oath of Allegiance prescribed under the Second Schedule of the Citizenship Act and determine whether the applicant meets the requirements under Section 6B.
If satisfied that the applicant is eligible and is a fit and proper person for registration or naturalisation, the collector will have the authority to grant Indian citizenship.
The rules also allow an application to be rejected if an applicant fails to appear personally to subscribe to the application and take the Oath of Allegiance despite being given reasonable opportunities to do so.
The government has made corresponding amendments to several other provisions of the Citizenship Rules to formally incorporate the collector into the process. Rules 14 and 15 now include the words “or the Collector, as the case may be” alongside references to the Empowered Committee, while Rule 38 has been amended to include the Collector alongside the Designated Officer.
Several application forms under Schedule I, including Forms IIA, IIIA, IVA, VA, VIA, VIIA and VIIIA, have also been revised. Applicants ordinarily residing in the specified jurisdictions will now submit their completed forms to the concerned collector, who will process them under Rule 11A.
Schedule IC has similarly been amended to include the Collector alongside the Senior Superintendent of Post or Superintendent of Post in the relevant provision.
The latest notification has been issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs under Section 18 of the Citizenship Act, 1955. The principal Citizenship Rules were notified in February 2009 and were last amended on May 18, 2026.
The amendment comes a day after an MHA order issued on August 19 directed that pending Section 6B applications before Empowered and District-Level Committees in the specified states and Union Territories be transferred to the respective collectors.
