NEW DELHI (The Thursday Times) — India has relaxed passport rules for some Pakistani nationals living in the country, exempting those who settled there before 2010 and cannot renew their passports because they do not hold a Pakistani Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC).
The change is part of the Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) (Amendment) Order, 2026, which India’s Home Ministry published in the official gazette on Thursday. It covers Pakistani nationals who entered India on or before December 31, 2009, intending to live there permanently.
The conditions are strict. Applicants must not have married or bought property in Pakistan, must have left family members who are Indian citizens behind when they went to Pakistan, and must undertake not to return there. They also need clean reports from the police and security agencies, the notification says.
Who else is covered: Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2024, including those with no valid passport or an expired one; registered Sri Lankan Tamils who took shelter in India on or before January 9, 2015; Tibetans who came through Nepal on Indian permits between 1959 and May 30, 2003, or on special entry permits since; and people of Indian origin who took Malaysian or Singaporean citizenship and returned to India by the end of 2009.
The order lifts the passport requirement, not the visa one: those covered must still obtain the appropriate visa to stay in India.
It also changes the rules on India’s open borders with Nepal and Bhutan. Citizens of the three countries travelling directly between them by land or air can show identity documents listed in India’s visa manual instead of a passport. But Nepali and Bhutanese citizens who start their journey in, or pass through, China, Macau, Hong Kong or Pakistan must hold a valid passport and visa, and Indians heading to other countries through Nepal or Bhutan need a passport and must cross at designated immigration posts.
Indian army, navy and air force personnel travelling on duty, and family members with them on government transport, are also exempt, as are crews of foreign military ships in India for repairs who carry military identification.
