New Exemption for Sri Lankan Refugees and Other Migrants: A Shift in Immigration Policy
UPSC Relevance
Prelims: Indian Polity and Governance (Citizenship - CAA, Naturalisation; Fundamental Rights; Laws related to foreigners); International Relations (India's refugee policy, India-Sri Lanka).
Mains:
General Studies Paper 2: Indian Constitution—citizenship; Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation; Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections; India and its neighborhood- relations.
Key Highlights from the News
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has released the new Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order, 2025.
According to this order, Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who arrived in India before January 9, 2015, and are registered with the government, are exempted from legal proceedings for not having proper documents. This technically means they will not be considered illegal migrants.
In addition, this exemption also applies to undocumented individuals from six minority communities who fled religious persecution from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, and entered India before December 31, 2024.
The government has clarified that this new exemption does not extend the cut-off date of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). The CAA's cut-off date remains December 31, 2014.
However, since those granted exemption are protected from deportation, they may be able to apply for citizenship by naturalisation through normal procedures.
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