The Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday notified through the Gazette of India that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 will come into force from January 10 onward.

The Gazette, available on the website, reads: "In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 1 of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (47 of 2019), the Central Government hereby appoints the 10th day of January 2020, as the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force."

The Act allows Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain and Parsi immigrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, who faced religious persecution, and came to India before December 31, 2014, to get citizenship in India