Statelessness Working Paper Series No. 2017/02 In terms of citizenship by birth, it can be established that it is very unlikely that section 3 of the Citizenship Act would grant nationality via jus soli to children born in the territory of India who are vulnerable to statelessness. This is not in line with Article 1 of the 1961 Convention which requires States to “grant nationality to a person born in its territory who would otherwise be stateless”46, to which India is not a state party. Before 1986, every person born in India on or after the commencement of the Constitution was considered an Indian citizen by birth on the territory (unconditional jus soli). As mentioned earlier, this was replaced by a stricter jus sanguinis doctrine with the introduction of the Amendment Act, 1986 (see section 1.3). Although India is not party to the 1954 or 1961 Conventions, the lack of safeguards against statelessness at birth are in contravention of CRC (Article 7), ICCPR (Article 24), CPRD (Article 18) and the Convention on Migrant Workers (Article 29) which assert the right of a child to be registered immediately after birth and the right to acquire a nationality, under which India has not filed any reservations. From the perspective of stateless children, this is a shortcoming under Indian citizenship laws. 2.2.2 Citizenship by descent Section 4 of the Citizenship Act divides citizenship by descent (jus sanguinis) into three categories: persons born outside India between 26 January 1950 and 10 December 1992 if the father was an Indian citizen at the time of birth; persons born outside India between 10 December 1992 and 7 January 2004, if either of the parents is an Indian citizen at the time of birth; and children born after 7 January 2004 if either of the parents is an Indian citizen and the birth is registered at an Indian consulate within one year. 47 Section 4 also requires births to be registered at an Indian consulate within one year and that the minor does not hold another nationality. This is aligned with Article 4 of the 1961 Convention, which requires states to grant nationality to persons born outside the country of his/her parents nationality, if (s)he would otherwise be stateless.48 In comparison to citizenship by descent described above, it becomes clear that Indian laws make it is easier for persons of Indian descent born outside of India to gain Indian citizenship than for persons born in India. 2.2.3 Citizenship by registration Section 5 of the Citizenship Act provides Indian citizenship through registration for the following categories of persons: (a) a person of Indian origin49 who is currently resident in India for seven years before making an application for registration; (b) a person of Indian origin who is ordinarily resident in any country or place outside undivided India50; (c) a person who is married to an Indian citizen and is ordinarily resident in India for seven years before making an application for registration; (d) minor children of persons who are citizens of India; (e) a person of full age and capacity whose parents are registered as citizens of India under clause (a) of this sub-section or sub-section (1) of section 6; (f) a person of full age and capacity who, or either of his/her parent, was earlier a citizen of Independent India, and has been residing in India for one year immediately before making an application for registration; (g) a person of full age and capacity who has been registered as an Overseas Indian Citizen 46 Article 1, UNGA, Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 30 August 1961, UNTS, vol. 989 The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003 48 Article 4 (2), UNGA, Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 30 August 1961, UNTS, vol. 989 49 Section 5, Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003 50 India before 1947 partition as recognized by 'The Government of India Act', 1935 47 5