Citizenship Implications

G

golumolu

Registered Users (C)
Hi Everyone,

I have a question regarding DUAL CITIZENSHIP rule from Indian Govt.

Does anyone know if hte DUAL CITIZENSHIP BILL is now act? I don't think the Indian Govt did anything except make an announcement about it

Who is eligible to have DUAL CITIZENSHIP?

I was told that the moment you take oath as a USA Citizen your INDIAN Citizenship automatically becomes NULL and VOID.

Also I was also indicated that this new DUAL CITIZENSHIP is only applicable to some of our children who were born in USA (they automatically are US Citizens until 18 or 21 years of age when they could decide which way they would go) and not for us who go through the H1-B to GC to Citizenship.

I would appreciate if any one can throw some light on this.
 
Regulations governing the new citizenship law in India have not been formulated yet. It does not change the existing rule that one automatically ceases to be an Indian citizen once he/she takes up foreign citizenship. What the new rule proposes is to allow such foreign citizens who at one time held indian citizenship or whose parents at one time held Indian citizenship to reapply for indian citizenship. Those who are aproved will be called "overseas citizen" of India. They will also get a different colored passport (grey I think) and the passport will have Overseas Citizen (or something to that effect)written on it.
In my opinion this is nothing but a slightly better version of the PIO card. The only real benefit is that one can stay in india beyond 6 months without re-registering with the foreigners registration office.
 
PIO and Dual

There are also some differences, if you have dual citizens you may be
able to buy/sell property in India. Dont think PIO can do that today (as per the law, if you follow it strictly)
 
cp-gc said:
There are also some differences, if you have dual citizens you may be
able to buy/sell property in India. Dont think PIO can do that today (as per the law, if you follow it strictly)
Click to expand...

I am not quite clear on this re-gaining Indian citizenship if you were of Indian origin or held an Indian passport before. Once you become an USC, and you apply for Indian citizenship, are you not putting your USC in jeopardy?

If I remember some of the postings earlier, you cannot apply for another citizenship unless you get that citizenship automatically (through marriage etc.).

Can someone clarify...Thanks.

BTW...if you hold a PIO card you can buy and dispose any non agricultural / plantation property....more information on the embassy website
http://www.indianembassy.org/policy/PIO/Introduction_PIO.html
 
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fitness99 said:
I am not quite clear on this re-gaining Indian citizenship if you were of Indian origin or held an Indian passport before. Once you become an USC, and you apply for Indian citizenship, are you not putting your USC in jeopardy?

If I remember some of the postings earlier, you cannot apply for another citizenship unless you get that citizenship automatically (through marriage etc.).

Can someone caliry...Thanks.

BTW...if you hold a PIO card you can buy and dispose any non agricultural / plantation property....more information on the embassy website
http://www.indianembassy.org/policy/PIO/Introduction_PIO.html
Click to expand...

US laws do not prohibit multiple citizenships. One can be a US citizen AND a citizen of another country.
 
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For now , I think the best bet is a multiple entry visa as a PIO is too expensive for what it offers. An NRI Cz wil be comparably priced i think. The Indian Govt is considering giving voting privilidiges to NRI's soon. Stay tuned
 
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Rahul Kumar said:
For now , I think the best bet is a multiple entry visa as a PIO is too expensive for what it offers. An NRI Cz wil be comparably priced i think. The Indian Govt is considering giving voting privilidiges to NRI's soon. Stay tuned
Click to expand...

Rahul - I am not sure which route I want to take at this point, the PIO or the Visa route. Knowing the way things move in Indian government as well as the amount of churn that happens - I am not sure when they will make it a law for OIC passports. :D
 
fitness99 said:
Rahul - I am not sure which route I want to take at this point, the PIO or the Visa route. Knowing the way things move in Indian government as well as the amount of churn that happens - I am not sure when they will make it a law for OIC passports. :D
Click to expand...

Take a look at your need. Are you going to visit often in the next say 3 years ? Do you want to buy property or do you want to enroll your kids in school in India or is there a benefit in you having it ? If a couple of extra 100 bucks and a few weeks extra wait does not matter to you, go for the PIO. I feel that in the next 2-3 years we will have a Citizenship status for PIO's and that is a much more viable alternative.

The one thing I love about the Indian PIO is that you don't have to enter the country atleast once a year like a US Green Card (and also that is infinitely easier to get in the first place!)
 
Rahul Kumar said:
Take a look at your need. Are you going to visit often in the next say 3 years ? Do you want to buy property or do you want to enroll your kids in school in India or is there a benefit in you having it ? If a couple of extra 100 bucks and a few weeks extra wait does not matter to you, go for the PIO. I feel that in the next 2-3 years we will have a Citizenship status for PIO's and that is a much more viable alternative.

The one thing I love about the Indian PIO is that you don't have to enter the country atleast once a year like a US Green Card (and also that is infinitely easier to get in the first place!)
Click to expand...

I agree with your comments. One of the reasons I am looking at PIO is that I have inherited property in India. I am not sure if I can still keep any agricultural lands that I owned before as an Indian citizen (will be USC on 7/23/2004).

If India puts a restriction on the PIO to visit India every year, I think they will have very few people applying for those :D

The greedy buggers had an initial fee of $1000 for the PIO (highway robbery)!
 
if you are inheriting property its wise to take the PIO to avoid complications. You dont want your property ending up in an indian courthouse!
 
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