mumbai maharashtra has witnessed a sixfold increase in applications for indian citizenship from pakistani nationals ever since relaxation and simplification of immigration rules in december 2017 the gainers include crossborder brides in mumbai who have waited for citizenship for close to a decademahims zahida ansari 36 originally from karachi got her citizenship after 10 years of her marriage to cousin mohammed azam the biggest advantage that comes with citizenship is the liberty to travel anywhere in india said asma gazdhar also born in karachi foreigners are not allowed to travel outside the city for which they secured a visa i have not gone outside mumbai in seven years for this reason none of these brides had a honeymoon even after having kids family outings to even a neighbouring hill station such as lonavla were a pipe dreamagainst an average of 10 applications every six months earlier today nearly 50 to 60 migrants from pakistan apply for indian citizenship in maharashtra during the period applications are also cleared in a timebound period now since the powers have been delegated to collectors in mumbai pune thane and nagpur a senior home department official told toi on saturdayapplications are processed in seven days subject to a favourable police report said mumbai collector shivajirao jondhale currently just seven applications for citizenship are pending in mumbaipolitician gurumukh jagwani from jalgaon a doctor by profession migrated to india from sindh in 1985 and succeeded in securing indian citizenship in 1990 he was elected to the state legislative council in 2004 and reelected in 2014 it is a fact that there has been a spurt in migrants from pakistan applying for citizenship for safety and security reasons said jagwani pointing out that after partition indian citizenship was granted to those who had lived in the country for five continuous years during then pm atal bihari vajpayees tenure the period was reduced to two years for technocrats when the upa government took over the period of continuous stay was enhanced to seven yearsbyculla resident zeenat fatima 34 is also from karachi her husband shahid usmani a software engineer says they were married nine years ago and have two children my wife got her approval and within 15 months she got her card he saidasma was 21 when she married vaseem gazdhar an internet cable contractor who lives in temkar street my mother hails from india and moved to pakistan after marriage since childhood i had been visiting india during my summer vacation to meet relatives in jodhpur she said now 30 and a mother of two asma and vaseem are pleased that she has finally earned the red document that declares her an indian nationalsince many of these crossborder marriages are consanguineous the couple have relatives living in other cities or towns of india asma said i was unable to go to jodhpur where my elders aunt uncle and cousins live for a family wedding my grandmother passed away but i could not attend the funeral i have