Pakistani-Born Brenden Crasto Receives Indian Citizenship in Goa

TDT | Manama

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After a long wait, 44-year-old Brenden Valentine Crasto, originally from Pakistan, officially became an Indian citizen on Monday. The citizenship certificate was handed to him by Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant at a ceremony held at Mantralaya, the state secretariat in Porvorim. Crasto’s family attended the event.

Crasto, who has roots in Goa, currently lives in Anjuna, North Goa, with his wife, Indian national Merilyn Fernandes. The couple married in 2014, and Crasto has been living in India continuously since 2006.

He was granted citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA), which allows members of Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi, and Christian communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan—who arrived in India before December 31, 2014—to acquire Indian nationality.

Speaking to reporters, Chief Minister Sawant said Crasto met all the requirements under the Citizenship Act, 1955, and the 2019 amendment, making him the third person in Goa to receive citizenship under the CAA.

The Act’s rules were notified by the Union Home Ministry in March 2024, paving the way for its implementation five years after it was enacted. Earlier, in August 2024, 78-year-old Joseph Francis Pereira, also born in Pakistan, became the first person in Goa to gain Indian citizenship under the Act.