Author: Muraru Shetye
Publication: The Times of India
Date: August 26, 2025

A 44-year-old Pakistani from Karachi, Brenden Crasto, on Monday became the third person of Goan origin to be granted Indian citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). There is one more application of a Goan-origin person pending before the home ministry.

Crasto, a Catholic who currently resides in Anjuna, саme to Goa with his parents as an eight-month-old child in 1981. Crasto later married an Indian citizen, Merilyn Fernandes, in 2014, and has been residing in India continuously since Dec 2, 2006.

Crasto's grandfather, Joachim Felix Demello, was a resident of Anjuna and migrated to Pakistan prior to 1947. Crasto's grandmother was also of Goan origin. Crasto has ancestral property in Anjuna. Chief minister Pramod Sawant handed over the citizenship certificate to Crasto, who was accompanied by his wife and children. "I am thankful to the CAA and state and central govt and Goa chief minister for granting me citizenship. I got Indian citizenship after 44 years," said Crasto.

Sawant said that Crasto's grandparents moved to Pakistan before the country was divided, and his parents came back to Goa and started living in their ancestral home.

In Aug last year, former Pakistan national Joseph Pereira became the first person of Goan origin to get Indian citizenship under the CAA. He had tirelessly pursued Indian citizenship for 11 years. However, the introduction of the CAA expedited the process, enabling him to secure his citizenship within a mere one-and-a-half months.

Later, in Dec, TOI reported that another former Pakistan national, Shane Pereira, became an Indian citizen after 43 years. Pereira, who was born in Pakistan and entered India in 1981 when he was four, became the second person in Goa to be granted citizenship under the CAA.

Under the CAA, persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi, and Christian communities of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan who came to India on or before Dec 31, 2014, are eligible for Indian citizenship.