The Portuguese passport has certainly opened a door of great opportunity for Goans who have been queuing up since the last handful of decades to secure for themselves, not really a Portuguese passport, but a ticket to Portugal and thereby to Europe in pursuit of a better standard of living.

Goa, the tiniest state of independent India was ruled not by the British as was the case with the others of India, but by the Portuguese who held sway over this land from the year 1510 till 19th December 1961. During this time the Portuguese brought to Goa not only their colonial hegemony but also their religion, their culture, their language, their cuisine, their lifestyle and essentially made Goa an extension of Portugal.

When
dupla cidadania portuguesa attained liberation in 1961 there have been many Goans who have been desirous of holding back their Portuguese citizenship which became redundant after the acquisition of Goa by the Indian army. All Goans automatically were deemed to be Indians and the ones Goans who sought Portuguese citizenship had to flee to Portugal and reside there thereby forsaking their properties along with other attachments in Goa.

For nacionalidade portuguesa being Portugal also resisted India’s forceful liberation of Goa in the United Nations and opposed it in those forums until the year 1975 when Portugal acceded and accepted that Goa was an integral part of India. However since Goa was liberated by India, it was thought fit by Portugal to extend its citizenship rights to those citizens from Indian Goa, Daman and Diu that have been under their occupation and to whosoever sought such citizenship.

Therefore, the Portugal parliament passed a legislation to grant citizenship to Goans who would seek such status and formulated a credit card applicatoin process for Goan Indians to acquire such citizenship should they desired. Initially the response to this is subtle from Goans and there is a trickle of applicants. However after Portugal became a part of the European union suddenly Goan eyes and hopes brightened up. Thus the queues at the Portugal embassy in New Delhi began in the nineties. Soon Portugal exposed its consulate in Goa and the queues simply increased and shifted to the Goan capital of Panjim at the Portuguese consulate where folks from Goa Daman and Diu flocked in large numbers with certificates and documents to satisfy the requirements in search of a Portuguese passport and a ticket to Europe.