1.3 lakh in 2015: India tops list of foreign citizenship

MUMBAI: India tops the list of origin countries of naturalised citizens across the world, indicating that the diaspora is not apprehensive of acquiring foreign citizenship.

In 2015, 1.30 lakh people of Indian origin, comprising largely of expatriates on work visas, acquired citizenship of OECD member countries.

This was followed by Mexico (1.12 lakh) and the Philippines (94,000). China came fifth with 78,000 opting to relinquish their citizenship.

These were the findings of the report International Migration Outlook (2017) released by Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (Oecd) in Paris on Thursday.

The report mentioned that in 2015, just over 20 lakh people acquired the nationality of an OECD country. This was slightly above (3%) the 2014 figure, even as it remains within the OECD average of the past 10 years.

OECD is a global thinktank of 35 member countries, which include European countries, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. An earlier OECD report had pointed out that India had the world's largest diaspora with 156 lakh migrants.

"Improving the integration of immigrants and their children, including refugees, is vital to delivering a more prosperous, inclusive future for all," said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria in the report.

China retained its top position when it came to new immigrants to OECD countries.

However, on this front, the refugee crisis led to a large influx of immigrants from Syria, pushing India down one spot to the fifth position.

Humanitarian migration, rather than migration for better jobs or lifestyle, dominated the scene during 2015 and would continue to do so in the immediate future, the report stated.

The total inflow of new immigrants to OECD countries in 2015 was 70.39 lakh and new immigrants from China accounted for nearly 7.8% of the inflow. In 2013, nearly one in ten immigrants were from China. Migration flows from India to OECD also dipped slightly, from 4.4% of the total inflows countries in 2013 to just 3.9% in 2015.

However, in terms of standalone numbers, there was an inflow of 2.68 lakh immigrations from India during 2015 to OECD countries, as opposed to just 2.40 lakh in 2013.

Data showed that USA, Canada, UK, Australia and Germany continue to be the favoured destinations of Indian migrants. Both China and India continued to be the major source countries for international students.

Over half of the international students in the OECD countries originate from Asia. Chinese students, despite a 7% drop in their numbers between 2013 and 2014, were the most dominant with six lakh enrolments during 2014.

They were followed by Indian students whose number at 1.86 lakh during 2014 was up by 13% compared with the previous year. USA received more than 40% international student enrolment.