Indian origin Tamil plantation workers meet with UNHCR staff on Bopitiya Estate, Deltota, Sri Lanka. © UNHCR / G. Amarasinghe Residents Act required a seven- or 10-year period of uninterrupted residence, respectively, and a specific level of income for an individual to qualify for citizenship. The Hill Tamils could not meet these requirements, rendering them stateless. A census conducted in 1964 estimated there were 168,000 Hill Tamils without citizenship. Two agreements were reached with India (in 1964 and 1974) to address statelessness among the Hill Tamils. Under the agreements, Sri Lanka would grant citizenship to 375,000 Hill Tamils, while India would grant citizenship to 600,000 members of the community and repatriate them. A total of 506,000 people applied for Indian citizenship and 470,000 applied to become Sri Lankan citizens. However, implementation of these agreements was slow and incomplete. Many of those who applied for Sri Lankan citizenship did not receive any documentation confirming their nationality. As for those who applied for Indian citizenship, by 1982 there were 86,000 applications still pending with the Indian authorities, while 90,000 Hill Tamils who had been issued with Indian passports had not left Sri Lanka. In 1982, India informed Sri Lanka that the implementation periods for the 1964 and 1974 agreements had elapsed and it was no longer required to process claims for citizenship by and repatriation of Hill Tamils who remained in Sri Lanka. Although Sri Lanka disputed this claim, the last Hill Tamil to be repatriated to India left in 1984, whereupon India no longer considered any Hill Tamils in Sri Lanka as possessing Indian nationality. 5 CAMPAIGN TO END STATELESSNESS WITHIN 10 YE ARS