A great many of the senior leaders in the CTA have foreign citizenship, and given the legal and economic restrictions that govern Tibetans who remain in India with only an RC, it is perfectly logical that anyone with the chance to immigrate will do so. In the present CTA, at least three Kalons have foreign citizenship; Dicki Chhoyang (Int. Relations) is Canadian, Pema Chhinjor (Religion and Culture) is American, Dolma Gyari (Home) is Indian.

Citizenship confers security, and security is what their stateless constituents sorely need. But many Tibetans in India report that the CTA actively discourages or impedes efforts to obtain Indian citizenship in many ways, including reportedly depriving candidates of the ability to receive NORI (No Objection to Return to India) permits.

While campaigning, Mr. Sangay publically stated that he had chosen not to obtain US citizenship, and also implied that his opponent, Tenzin Tethong, had not been true to the exile identity and struggle because he had obtained US citizenship for himself and his family.

It is unclear whether or not Mr. Sangay actually has a US passport or green card, or has in fact lived and worked in the US for over a decade and a half, traveled extensively, and obtained a bank mortgage with only an Indian RC. What is clear is that he has established a secure financial base in the USA, where his family has immigrated. After completing his S.J.D. degree at Harvard Law School, Mr. Sangay worked at Harvard as a Research Fellow whose salary and expenses were paid out of a $100,000 per year grant from the Hao Ran Foundation of Taiwan.

In 2007, Mr. Sangay applied for (and received) an O1 Visa for “aliens of exceptional ability”; the key feature of this visa is that it allows individuals to then immediately apply for a Green Card, and then U.S. citizenship within three years.

Like many Fulbright students and CTA officials, Mr. Sangay has been able to acquire property for his family in the U.S., as has his sister and uncle. On August 7, 2007 Mr. Sangay and his wife purchased a two-unit home in Medford, Mass., from his sister Thinley Chodeon for $1 (one dollar), plus assuming a mortgage of $227,000. (Note: the writer once pointed out in an article on People’s Daily of China on Dec. 11, 2012 that Lobsang Sangay once bought a house property worth of 350,000 US dollars in the name of his sister, and paid one dollar more to take it back from his sister. Lobsang Sangay has given no reply so far concerning this fact. )

All mortgage information in the US is in public records. Based on his refinancing on August 20, 2009, Mr. Sangay was paying off his mortgage at a rate of $8,000 per year, but then was somehow able to pay off the remaining $211,000 balance on July 29, 2011 (one week before his inauguration as Kalon Tripa). He now owns a two-unit house in the USA, with no mortgage, that is currently assessed at approximately $346,000 (18.5 million rupees)
The CTA must make a stronger case for keeping thousands of people shackled to an RC other than not making those in Tibet “lose hope” especially when senior leaders have already secured assets and/or citizenship in the west.

All surveys, including the CTA’s 2010 demographic report, confirm that the vast majority of Tibetans in India and Nepal live at the poverty line. And without the protection of citizenship, stateless Tibetans are especially vulnerable to corruption and coercion.

On a recent trip to Pokhara, I met a Khampa elder in Jampaling, one of the four old settlements in Pokhara, once prosperous, now forlorn. He sat on a stool, spinning an antique prayer wheel, gazing sadly upon a desolate field that was once a thriving carpet factory, and spoke: “I am tired of being a refugee. I have lived here for 50 years and my hope of ever seeing Tibet again is gone. All the children want to leave this place, they want to go to India or America. Why should they stay here, where there is no future?”