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An illegal immigrant in India is a foreigner who has entered India either without valid documents or who initially had a valid document, but has overstayed beyond the permitted time, as per the general provisions of the Citizenship Act as amended in 2003. Such persons are not eligible for citizenship by registration or naturalisation.[1] They are also liable to be imprisoned for 2–8 years and fined.[2]
An exception was made in 2015 for minority communities of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who were compelled to seek shelter in India due to religious persecution or fear of religious persecution. They are not classified as illegal migrants and remain eligible for citizenship.[3][4]
The Indian Census of 2001 gives information about migrants, but not exclusively illegal immigrants. As per the 2001 Census, Bangladeshis form the largest group of migrants in India, followed by Pakistanis.[5]
- ^ Citizenship Act, 1955, indiacode.nic.in, 2004.
- ^ The Foreigners (Amendment) Act, 2004, India Kanoon, 2004.
- ^ Foreigners (Amendment) Order, 2015
- ^ Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, Gazette of India, 2019.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
censusindia.gov.inwas invoked but never defined (see the help page).