People often ask me why I keep so much rubbish (?) in my room. Files and files of old junk (?).
Maybe this incident will explain why - although I would like to get rid of the all this useless (?) paper.
This evening I received a call from a lady, an Indian Citizen who lives in mid Finland, who is married to a Finn and has a daughter, who is also a Finnish citizen. They are planning a visit to India and was wondering about how long it would take to get visas for her husband and her daughter, aged 15.
I asked her why she did not have an Indian passport for her daughter. She replied that the Indian Embassy in Finland had told her that it was not possible to issue her with an Indian Passport and that dual nationality was not permitted.
The Embassy is certainly wrong about dual nationality, as it is permitted, but in case of her daughter, they are doubly wrong.
The following case will explain the correct position (hopefully?).
When Annikki and I arrived in Finland we found that our two Indian children would be denied their legal social benefits if they only held onto their Indian nationality. So Annikki, as their mother, who is a Finn, applied for Finnish nationality for these children.
They were granted Finnish nationality after a short wait. But within a short time of their nationality being granted, as the Finnish Gazette published this information, I received this letter from the Indian Embassy. (They were certainly following what Indians in Finland ARE UP TO!)
I do not readily have access to the letter I wrote to the President of India, who at that time was Zail Singh.
In my usual persuasive language (you are all so familiar with) I told him that our two children were minors, that I wanted them to retain their Indian Nationality, while their Finnish mother wanted them to have Finnish nationality. In a symbol of defiance, I returned the Passports directly to him by Registered Post and copy of the Registration card, duly received by him, which was returned to me, is shown below.
I also sent copies to the Embassy of India in Helsinki, Finland and also to Prime Minister of India, who at that time happened to be Rajiv Gandhi.
I received a written reply from the Office of the President of India, who immediately forwarded the matter to the correct section in the Ministry of External Affairs.
On receipt of the copy of my letter addressed to the President, the Embassy of India immediately realised they had goofed. They quickly tried to correct the situation. It is not often that someone stands up to bureaucratic incompetence - and they realised that I was not playing any games with them.
On the other hand, the Prime Minister's Office made their decision without any reference to the correct authorities.
Within a few weeks the Ministry of External Affairs gave their correct verdict which allowed our minor children to hold dual nationality.
The Prime Minister's Office, however, showed their incompetence, as they did not refer to the correct authorities but continued to tell me that the kids could not hold dual nationality.
But, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Embassy of India in Helsinki quickly put the Office of the Prime Minister right and they were forced to issue me with an apology!!
As a result of this incident, the then Ambassador, His Excellency K. P. Fabian, became a good friend and has remained one till today.
Annikki and I were able to help him out on a couple of sticky occasions about India and the Finnish media.
visited the Microelectronics Laboratory in the University of Oulu
- I am on the extreme left and Fabian is on the extreme right.
The Dean of the Technical Faculty is seen and my colleague,
Professor Leppävuori has his back to the camera.
His Excellency K. P. Fabian, Indian Ambassador to Finland, visited the University of Oulu as my guest where he gave a wonderful speech on the "North South Dialogue" which is published in my hit (and the most pirated book of 1994) book of 1994 "Seven Years Hard Labour in a Finnish Holiday Camp - A Finnish University".
The position today is a little different as not only children, but those who acquire another nationality by virtue of domicile, can retain their Indian nationality. (There are certain special circumstances, such as citizens of an enemy state, where this does not apply, but in all normal cases, the dual nationality is available.)
Not only that, spouses of an Indian nationals can acquire Persons on Indian Origin (PIO) status, which eliminates the need for a visa when they travel to India. However, I am not exactly sure of this issue, so please check it out with the correct authorities and do correct me if I am wrong.
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