Q: I was born in Karachi but my parents were born in Goa before 1961  and moved to Karachi prior to 1961. My parents have Portuguese passports valid till 1978 issued by the Portuguese Embassy in Pakistan. They were issued after 1961. Does this mean that my parents are registered in Portugal? 

A: No this does not mean that your parents births were registered in Portugal. There are few cases like this. What is understood is that the Portuguese Embassy did issue Portuguese passports to people of Goans origin. Basically they continued to renew the passport that the person originally traveled on to Karachi. These documents normally had a validity but it actuality they were not valid and it seemed that they would not have been able to travel using those passport and eventually had to either give them up or it lost its validity. That said there is also a chance that your parents would have registered their birth in Portugal as soon as India annexed Goa. As they would have desired to maintain their Portuguese nationality and in some cases with out having to move back to Goa. In cases like these it is always good to conduct a search in the archives in Portugal to check if the birth was transcribed. This of course involves a cost and time.

Many Goans who had moved to Karachi and married in Karachi and had children born there went ahead and registered their marriage and the children births at the Portuguese Embassy in Pakistan but never applied for their Portuguese passport and could only hold a Pakistani passport. In most cases these records stayed with the Embassy and were never sent to Lisbon to be transcribed hence the record does not exist in Portugal and is not longer traceable at the Embassy. In some case people even have a copy of the assento de Nascimento or casamneto but this does not help. One has to go through the process of transcribing the marriage and birth in Lisbon. That said there is a chance that the Embassy did send the record to Lisbon and it was transcribed. So in cases like this it is best to conduct a search in the archives in Portugal. This of course involves a cost and time.

A lot of Goans in Karachi would travel back to Goa to transcribe their marriage and children’s birth there as soon or around the child was born. This of course for birth before 1961. Please note that Goa was Portugal so they did not have to travel to Lisbon to transcribe the marriage or birth.

www.pnfg.in

PNFG - Portuguese Nationality For Goans 

PNFG CONSULTANCY

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Portugal: +351 920 219177 

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PORTUGUESE NATIONALITY FOR GOANS Also known as PCFG - PORTUGUESE CITIZENSHIP FOR GOANS also known as a PORTUGUESE PASSPORT AGENCY also known as PORTUGUESE PASSPORT AGENCY GOA