September 4, 2025
NEW DELHI – In an order issued on Tuesday (September 2), the Union Home Ministry announced that members of minority communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, who entered India on or before December 31, 2024 to escape religious persecution, will be permitted to stay in the country without a passport or other valid travel documents.
The order forms part of a series of directives issued under the newly enacted Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, which came into effect on September 1.
Previously, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) granted eligibility for citizenship only to those who had entered India on or before December 31, 2014. While the new order extends protection to those arriving up to December 2024, it does not confer citizenship rights.
The decision is expected to bring relief to many, particularly Hindus from Pakistan who arrived after 2014 and had long been awaiting clarity on their status.
According to the ministry, the order applies to “people belonging to minority communities in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, who were compelled to seek shelter in India due to religious persecution or fear of persecution, and entered the country on or before December 31, 2024, without valid documents or with documents that have since expired.”