Folks
I was in India during past couple of weeks for my wedding. My wife applied for H4 visa with all necessary documents that are mentioned in this forum. The consular officer asked her to get my name endorsed in her passport (OR get her name changed). This was quite a surprise because both of us because no one at Visa Facilitation Services told us earlier that this was a necessary requirement. The officer told my wife after reviewing her application that he will issue her visa once she got my name endorsed in her passport - and he kept his word! The officer stamped the last page of the passport and wrote 221(g) (which is the section for insufficient evidence) and returned the passport with DD for visa issuing fee. The application was thus kept pending (and not rejected) and no new appointment was needed through visa facilitation services. The returned draft could be re-used. My wife had to go directly to the consulate with her new passport to get the visa.
Passport office does not endorse names on existing passports - they issue a new booklet with the changed name or spouse's name added on the last page. It takes the office 3 working days to issue a new booklet. The application form for making these types of changes is different from the original and also has a machine scannable form. Please ensure that this form is filled accurately and is complete in all respects because information entered on this form gets read by the computerized system.
Bottomline: Anyone planning on getting married in India and applying for spouse's H4 Visa at Mumbai Consulate should be prepared for this step. It would be practical to plan for this and allow sufficient time for any possible delays in getting the new passport booklet.
Hope this helps.
KAT02.
I was in India during past couple of weeks for my wedding. My wife applied for H4 visa with all necessary documents that are mentioned in this forum. The consular officer asked her to get my name endorsed in her passport (OR get her name changed). This was quite a surprise because both of us because no one at Visa Facilitation Services told us earlier that this was a necessary requirement. The officer told my wife after reviewing her application that he will issue her visa once she got my name endorsed in her passport - and he kept his word! The officer stamped the last page of the passport and wrote 221(g) (which is the section for insufficient evidence) and returned the passport with DD for visa issuing fee. The application was thus kept pending (and not rejected) and no new appointment was needed through visa facilitation services. The returned draft could be re-used. My wife had to go directly to the consulate with her new passport to get the visa.
Passport office does not endorse names on existing passports - they issue a new booklet with the changed name or spouse's name added on the last page. It takes the office 3 working days to issue a new booklet. The application form for making these types of changes is different from the original and also has a machine scannable form. Please ensure that this form is filled accurately and is complete in all respects because information entered on this form gets read by the computerized system.
Bottomline: Anyone planning on getting married in India and applying for spouse's H4 Visa at Mumbai Consulate should be prepared for this step. It would be practical to plan for this and allow sufficient time for any possible delays in getting the new passport booklet.
Hope this helps.
KAT02.