Does Indian Passport require for US citizenship (N-400)

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pankajbatra12

New Member
:confused:I am US permanent immigrant with green card, and I lost my Indian passport.
I want to apply for US citizenship since I am already in US for more then 5 years. I was thinking that if I could just apply for US citizenship without Indian passport.
Is this possible or you have to have Indian passport for US citizenship interview.

Please advice.
Thanks in advance.
Pankaj
 
Please read before you apply -

http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?t=288288

[2] Passport: It's required mainly to verify applicant's absence from the United States as it contains the record of ALL the trips that an applicant has taken outside the United States which could determine applicant's eligibility for naturalization as to his/her continuous presence in the United States. And it's also required to verify applicant's citizenship/nationality. Officer does retains the right to ask for it as it is relevant to the information on the application. Plus, it's also used to establish applicant's identity which is very important at the time of naturalization. You should bring all the passports (even the expired ones) that you might have carried. Also, it is better to take the photocopy of the first page of the passport wherein biodata is as it has been noticed that some people are recently asked for it. If a passport is recently expired, then it is not a problem because adjudication officers like to see the passport to verify the trips taken outside the US than the validity of the passport.
 
A passport from your country of origin is generally required to be able to get US citizenship. Whether the USCIS IO inspects it or not is a different question. My suggestion would be to renew the passport at any Indian consulate or embassy. I am assuming you already have the dates of travel outside the US. Also, an official complaint copy (from police) may be a good idea in case you lost your passport. I am not sure if this is a must or not but at least it will establish a reason if you cannot produce the proof of your trips outside the US.

I am not an expert and these are just my opinion.
 
Filing a police report should the first thing to do. Filing a report not only protects you if a lost passport is misused but is also required to get a new passport.
 
File a police report and apply for your Indian passport from Indian consulate/ Embassy. You will need Indian passport when you apply for India visa or OCI or PIO and at that time Indian Consulate/embassy will cancel your passport with” cancelled “stamp and return it to you. Check the nearest Indian consulate site and apply for the passport.
 
As a LPR, you have to keep a valid Passport irrespective. Some IOs will ask for your passports to validate your travel dates. Its a very common practice.Whether you like it or not, you have to have your passport with you all the time unless you are a Citizen of that country.

However, you can take your chances and appear for the Citizenship interviews without one. If you are lucky enough, you maybe able to just get the process completed without any issues.
 
What if the applicant has a passport, but the passport expired several (five) years ago? Now if the passport had expired, it is clear that the person would not have traveled outside US.

Would that be fine? Or is it a better idea to renew Indian passport first, and then apply for US passport?

Thank you!
 
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