Indians accounted for close to 10 percent of the total global applicants for golden passports, the latest report said.
Golden passport refers to a facility offered by some countries whereby foreigners can get citizenship status by making a significant investment or by buying a house in that country.
According to data from Citizenship Invest, 9.4 percent of applications for golden passports globally last year were from India, as Indians, and businesspeople in particular, seek a passport that is higher up in the pecking order for visa-free travel and ease of business.
Canada, with which India is having a rough diplomatic patch currently, continued to see a large number of Indian immigrants with 21,000 of them getting citizenship in 2021, an OECD report said.
More Indians are migrating to developed nations, with nearly 400,000 moving to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries in 2021, the Times of India reported.
The OECD’s International Migration Outlook: 2023 report, which was released in Paris on Monday, October 23, also showed that Canada saw the biggest increase in accepting migrants, logging a 174 percent jump between 2021 and 2022.
The year 2022 saw the highest number of foreign nationals acquiring OECD country citizenship at 2.8 million, a 25 percent jump from the previous year.
Nearly 130,000 Indians got OECD citizenship in 2021, with the US leading the 38-country list with 56,000 citizenship granted.
Australia came in second at 24,000 followed by Canada at 21,000.
In contrast, around 57,000 Chinese nationals acquired OECD citizenship, ranking 5th on the immigrants list.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an intergovernmental body that has 38 member countries and was founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade.
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