Why police verification for NRIs now require an Indian address and family contacts in India
If you're wondering why police clearance certificates for NRIs now require an Indian address and family contacts in India, you should read this.
In the past, if you were an NRI in a foreign country and needed your Indian Passport Renewed or a Police Clearance Certificate from India, it was easy: If your passport was issued by the same Indian High Commission where you are applying for a Passport renewal or PCC (Police Clearance Certificate) then they could issue the PCC in a few days. Also, if your passport had online records, then they could issue your PCC in a few days. This system changed around 2023 because of what India did in Canada and the US. Indian High Commissions now demand an Indian address and family contacts before renewing your Passport or issuing a Police Clearance Certificate. An Indian cop verifies this information, as you can tell from the complaints on the Internet. The Indian cops treat NRI PCC requests as a free ATM.
Before 2023, no one complained about being unable to renew their passport or get a Police Clearance Certificate because they had no address or family in India. Now there are graveyards of complaints on the Internet from NRIs who are not able to get vital documents because they don't have a house or family in India. Google/Reddit search for: police verification for nri.
For those who have family in India now, know that they might not be there when you need consular services abroad. A centralized database, the National Crime Records Bureau, already exists and now all passports have online records, so police verification should be pretty easy. So why force NRIs to provide an Indian address and family contacts in India even if they don't have them?
For starters, the Indian government now wants to keep tabs on NRIs through their Indian address and family contacts. An Indian address and family contacts in India keep NRIs grounded. They'll think twice before criticizing the BJP government. It's India's state surveillance and control of NRIs presented in the guise of bogus security measures. Yes, you cannot escape Indian bureaucracy even if you leave the country.
India's activities in Canada and the United States have been extensively covered by news outlets for many years. A simple internet search will give you that information and more if you filter the results to news. I have to say this as there will always be dickheads (worthless IT Cell trolls) who have nothing better to do with their life except gaslight other people on the Internet and plant seeds of doubt. I don't expect this post to get much traction because of the IT Cell trolls.
I cannot post the details here on Reddit because it's easy for the Indian government to take it down. Someone has written it out nicely and if you want to know the details, you can read it on their blog. They've thoroughly documented everything, citing every source and linking to US DOJ indictments, guilty pleas, and extensive news coverage. I want you to understand why the Indian government wants your Indian address and your family contacts in India before proving consular services. No other country does this to their citizens, except probably North Korea, where they intend to use that information against you if you say anything. It is how the mafia operates, by using a person's home, family, and friends as leverage to force them into compliance. In Canada, the Indian High Commission was caught blackmailing Indian citizens through their families in India (see the article for details). There have been public cases in which people who criticized Modi were arrested when they visited India. How did the government know where they lived? Only a few cases become public, so the full extent is difficult to know. Internet search is your friend if you want to know the details, and with AI in the mix, finding factual information amid the noise and misinformation from IT Cell trolls is even easier.
The Indian address and family links requirement for Passport Renewal and a Police Clearance Certificate are ridiculous because not every NRI has a house and family in India. I don't have a house or family contacts in India, so holding me hostage over an Indian address and family contacts in exchange for consular services makes no sense.
India got busted and now we all pay the price
The full PDF is at fbi.gov. Links to the US DOJ indictment and guilty plea are cited in the blog that I mentioned earlier.