Very interesting information from Tony DeSa about Indian Passports for Goans
born outside of Goa.
I was living in the former Tanganyika (now Tanzania) at the time that Goa was
invaded by India. The invasion of Goa came less than two weeks after
Tanganyika (then a U.N. territory administered by Britain) got its
Indepndence. Those of us born in Tanganyika
held "British Protected" passports which was just a document to facilitate
travel and did not
imply citizenship of Britain.
In the uncertainty of those times, I opted for an Indian Passport and filed the
appropriate documents at the newly established Indian High Commision in
Tanzania. The staff were
not sure what to make of my application. On making follow up inquiries a
couple of times,
I was informed that my file had been referred to Delhi. Never heard from the
Indian
High Commission again. My file is probably still gathering dust in Delhi ? I
guess despite
the decades, the lumbering Indian bureaucracy has not changed.
My experience with personnel at the Indian Consulate General in Chicago, USA,
is also
similar. It all depends on who is attending to the hordes waiting to be
served. From one
day to the next the response can vary. There does not seem to be any
consistency in following the regulations.
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