Dual citizenship questions

W

wouvlfe

New Member
Hello

I am currently an Indian citizen who moved to the US about 8 years ago and been living here ever since. Got my US green card a few years back too.

Now I would like to have dual citizenship of US/India.

First of all, is OIC (Overseas Citizen of India) the technical term for dual citizenship? It seems so but I want some confirmation

Secondly, I was told that the process of applying for dual citizenship has been put on hold while the forms are being upgraded or something to that effect. But others tell me the forms have already been upgraded and the application process is now active. Anyone know for sure? According to the following site, the process is still under hold:
http://www.immihelp.com/nri/dual.html

Not sure if it is actually on hold or if the site is just outdated.

Appreciate any info including links to other useful sites and your personal experience/knowledge

Thanks for your time,
VK.
 
JoeF is correct. OIC is like a green-card in India. No voting rights or government/political employment, restrictions on owning agricultural property. It is currently on hold.

-g
 
I am a little confused by this thread below...Can you please look into this and throw some light..

http://boards.immigrationportal.com...RTY#post1285773

After you have the american citizenship, according to what mangal969 says, one would have 6 months to get PIO card and still continue to own the property[NOT AGRICULTURAL] from india...
 
Purchasing

This freedom is available to all non-residents who are either citizens of India (i.e. holding Indian passports) or who are Persons of Indian Origin (PIO). The permission is for buying residential or commercial property and not purchase of agricultural land or plantation property or farm house in India.

PIOs

There is a legally valid definition for this term PIO. In simple words, however, a PIO is one who held an Indian passport any time earlier or who or whose father or grandfather was a citizen of India. Thus if a person migrates and later acquires local citizenship, he, his children and his grand children also have this permission.

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/jan282005/real1.asp

Not sure where Mangal got his 6 month rule. As PIO definition does not have any mention of this rule.

-g:)
 
Property in India

g said:
Purchasing

This freedom is available to all non-residents who are either citizens of India (i.e. holding Indian passports) or who are Persons of Indian Origin (PIO). The permission is for buying residential or commercial property and not purchase of agricultural land or plantation property or farm house in India.

PIOs

There is a legally valid definition for this term PIO. In simple words, however, a PIO is one who held an Indian passport any time earlier or who or whose father or grandfather was a citizen of India. Thus if a person migrates and later acquires local citizenship, he, his children and his grand children also have this permission.

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/jan282005/real1.asp

Not sure where Mangal got his 6 month rule. As PIO definition does not have any mention of this rule.

-g:)
Click to expand...

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this is from another thread..
30th October 2005, 08:35 AM
johnnkamala
Registered User Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 36

When you obtained US citizenship you lost Indian Citizenship and all rights of an Indian citizen. You no longer have legal title to your property. This can cause you real problems if any nosey person decides to push it. There are probably many approaches to this problem but what we did is put the land in our brother's name and had a lifetime lease made for the use of the land to us. One problem with this approach is that our children cannot inherit the land, but they want to live in America anyway and have no interest. By Indian law (not US) you can't be both an Indian citizen and an American. By Indian law (not US) you cannot own property in India unless you are an Indian citizen. You really should have looked into these matters before you decided to obtain citizenship in another country but I hope you will find a workable solution. Since you seem a bit naive about legal matters, I suggest that you be very careful who you put your trust in. Many people, even family (especially family in our case), will try to cheat you out of what is yours if there is valuable property involved.

----------------------------

My question..
After you become USC....Before getting PIO...would there be any problems in retaining the ownership of your property(not agricultural) in India...
 
lp said:
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this is from another thread..
30th October 2005, 08:35 AM
johnnkamala
Registered User Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 36

When you obtained US citizenship you lost Indian Citizenship and all rights of an Indian citizen. You no longer have legal title to your property. This can cause you real problems if any nosey person decides to push it. There are probably many approaches to this problem but what we did is put the land in our brother's name and had a lifetime lease made for the use of the land to us. One problem with this approach is that our children cannot inherit the land, but they want to live in America anyway and have no interest. By Indian law (not US) you can't be both an Indian citizen and an American. By Indian law (not US) you cannot own property in India unless you are an Indian citizen. You really should have looked into these matters before you decided to obtain citizenship in another country but I hope you will find a workable solution. Since you seem a bit naive about legal matters, I suggest that you be very careful who you put your trust in. Many people, even family (especially family in our case), will try to cheat you out of what is yours if there is valuable property involved.

----------------------------

My question..
After you become USC....Before getting PIO...would there be any problems in retaining the ownership of your property(not agricultural) in India...
Click to expand...


I think mangal969's post on other thread answers the question that you have 6 months to either get the PIO card to retain the property or sell it within 6 months.

The message you quoted above is true if you do not get a PIO card. With PIO you can keep your existing real estate in India (not sure about existing agriculture land) and you can also puchase additional real estate (excluding agricultural land).

This brings another questions: If you own a farm house in India while you are a green card holder and become a USC and get PIO card, can you keep your farm house, which is technically an agricultural land?
 
So that means India does not really offer dual citizenship?

It is just disguised under 'Overseas Citizenship'?

Those two wouldnt be the same thing
 
Deer said:
I think mangal969's post on other thread answers the question that you have 6 months to either get the PIO card to retain the property or sell it within 6 months.

The message you quoted above is true if you do not get a PIO card. With PIO you can keep your existing real estate in India (not sure about existing agriculture land) and you can also puchase additional real estate (excluding agricultural land).

This brings another questions: If you own a farm house in India while you are a green card holder and become a USC and get PIO card, can you keep your farm house, which is technically an agricultural land?
Click to expand...

My believe is that you get to keep that as you inherited it before you acquired citizenship. I was told by an another Indian who got her Citizenship long time back. I am trying to find the statement of law to be 100% sure.
 
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