RedTapeInIndia
New Member
My husband is a US Green Card holder. He is also still a citizen of India. His passport expired while in India less than a month ago. He didn't think he would have a problem renewing it in India since he is still a citizen. He arrived in India at the very end of July of this year (2016) and his Indian passport expired November 29, 2016. I write this post on December 24, 2016.
He has lived in the USA for over 20 years now. We do not maintain a home in India. He is staying with relatives. He is having problems with the police in verifying his address for the passport renewal.
Here is the chain of events:
He went to Indian Passport Office and explained the situation. The clerk he spoke to said as a US Green Card holder, he go to the US Consulate. He thought it didn't make sense to go to the US Consulate, as he thinks the US Consulate only helps US Citizens and the clerk was mistaken (as in, how can a US Consulate renew an Indian passport?), so he didn't pursue that option.
For permanent address, he put his family home, which is fully owned by his mother, that he lived in all his life and for which he has a bank account at the same address.
However, his mom had moved in with his sister in another area served by a different police station, and is currently renting out his family home to tenants.
Police go to the address twice and do not find him living there and reject the passport.
He is staying in sister's apartment so he gives that address. He has no proof of residency there, as his permanent address is in the United States.
He is told to get a statement from his brother-in-law verifying that he lives there in the apartment with them.
His brother-in-law rents the apartment. Suddenly, his statement is not good enough. They want the OWNER of the apartment to verify his address.
However, they have never met the landlord, as he lives abroad and they rented the apartment through a real estate agent.
Agent does not want to "bother" the landlord to write a letter stating that my husband is living there and will not give the landlord's contact information.
The next instruction is to get a letter from the Board that states he is staying in their apartment complex.
The Board refuses, stating that they are only an "ad hoc" Board and the builder of the complex has not given them the control a Board usually gets.
This is getting ridiculous. He has a CURRENT US Green Card and he needs to get back to the US already. He has consulted with two supposed "passport agents" and they have not been able to do anything except suggest that he bribe the police that checked on his address. He has not bribed them.
I asked him why he did not put his USA address on the application, but he said they wanted an Indian address so the police can check it, and without the police verification of an address in India, his passport will not be renewed.
Does anyone know where to go from here? Can he travel back to the USA with just a valid Green Card? Then he could renew the Indian passport in the USA.
I told him to reapply and use the United States address. He doesn't want to because one of the supposed "passport agents" told him not to let the current application be closed or it will take many months to submit another one and it may surpass one year of being outside of the US, which will then cause more problems.
I told him to get a lawyer in India who deals with these issues and he said that lawyers there will only prolong it so they can string it out (for months, maybe over a year) in order to make as much money as possible off of him. He doesn't know anyone in the legal community in India, so hiring somebody would just be the luck of the draw over there.
Could an immigration attorney in the United States take a case like this and straighten this out in order to get him back to the US so he could renew his passport here?
Now the next idea is to ask people in the cricket club where his family has been members his whole life if anyone has some connections or clout with the local police station who would speak on his behalf and prove that he has been a member all his life.
This is crazy. Does India expect every one of their citizens who live abroad to maintain a home in India also?
If anyone has any answers regarding this particular type of red tape, I would certainly value your input.
He has lived in the USA for over 20 years now. We do not maintain a home in India. He is staying with relatives. He is having problems with the police in verifying his address for the passport renewal.
Here is the chain of events:
He went to Indian Passport Office and explained the situation. The clerk he spoke to said as a US Green Card holder, he go to the US Consulate. He thought it didn't make sense to go to the US Consulate, as he thinks the US Consulate only helps US Citizens and the clerk was mistaken (as in, how can a US Consulate renew an Indian passport?), so he didn't pursue that option.
For permanent address, he put his family home, which is fully owned by his mother, that he lived in all his life and for which he has a bank account at the same address.
However, his mom had moved in with his sister in another area served by a different police station, and is currently renting out his family home to tenants.
Police go to the address twice and do not find him living there and reject the passport.
He is staying in sister's apartment so he gives that address. He has no proof of residency there, as his permanent address is in the United States.
He is told to get a statement from his brother-in-law verifying that he lives there in the apartment with them.
His brother-in-law rents the apartment. Suddenly, his statement is not good enough. They want the OWNER of the apartment to verify his address.
However, they have never met the landlord, as he lives abroad and they rented the apartment through a real estate agent.
Agent does not want to "bother" the landlord to write a letter stating that my husband is living there and will not give the landlord's contact information.
The next instruction is to get a letter from the Board that states he is staying in their apartment complex.
The Board refuses, stating that they are only an "ad hoc" Board and the builder of the complex has not given them the control a Board usually gets.
This is getting ridiculous. He has a CURRENT US Green Card and he needs to get back to the US already. He has consulted with two supposed "passport agents" and they have not been able to do anything except suggest that he bribe the police that checked on his address. He has not bribed them.
I asked him why he did not put his USA address on the application, but he said they wanted an Indian address so the police can check it, and without the police verification of an address in India, his passport will not be renewed.
Does anyone know where to go from here? Can he travel back to the USA with just a valid Green Card? Then he could renew the Indian passport in the USA.
I told him to reapply and use the United States address. He doesn't want to because one of the supposed "passport agents" told him not to let the current application be closed or it will take many months to submit another one and it may surpass one year of being outside of the US, which will then cause more problems.
I told him to get a lawyer in India who deals with these issues and he said that lawyers there will only prolong it so they can string it out (for months, maybe over a year) in order to make as much money as possible off of him. He doesn't know anyone in the legal community in India, so hiring somebody would just be the luck of the draw over there.
Could an immigration attorney in the United States take a case like this and straighten this out in order to get him back to the US so he could renew his passport here?
Now the next idea is to ask people in the cricket club where his family has been members his whole life if anyone has some connections or clout with the local police station who would speak on his behalf and prove that he has been a member all his life.
This is crazy. Does India expect every one of their citizens who live abroad to maintain a home in India also?
If anyone has any answers regarding this particular type of red tape, I would certainly value your input.
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