India Dual Citizenship Mega Thread (Merged)

The India Dual Citizenship will be Operational:

  • In 2003

    Votes: 4 20.0%

  • In 2004

    Votes: 11 55.0%

  • Sometime after 2004

    Votes: 4 20.0%

  • I am skeptical if this will happen

    Votes: 1 5.0%
  • Total voters
    20
  • Poll closed .
URGENT - PIO and Self-empolyment

Hello,

i need an urgent help. I may go to India and work there as an indendent consultant in IT field for a pvt company. I would work as a consultant / contractor.

I am a PIO card holder. do I need any other visa / permission ?

Can a PIO cardholder establish own business / firm for this purpose to invoice the customer?

Does OCI make any difference to the situation ?

Thanks in advance.
 
basis said:
Hello,

i need an urgent help. I may go to India and work there as an indendent consultant in IT field for a pvt company. I would work as a consultant / contractor.

I am a PIO card holder. do I need any other visa / permission ?

Can a PIO cardholder establish own business / firm for this purpose to invoice the customer?

Does OCI make any difference to the situation ?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...


You should be fine with PIO Card.

If you had OCI Status - the only difference will be that you will not be required to register with FRRO in India after a stay of 180 days!
 
boggavarapu said:
You should be fine with PIO Card.

If you had OCI Status - the only difference will be that you will not be required to register with FRRO in India after a stay of 180 days!
Click to expand...

thanks boggavarapu.

I had doubt because this would not be an employment but working as a freelancer consultant.
 
mangal969 said:
Chicago and SF are doing well.No one i know has applied from Washington :).
Houston is doing Ok and New York is asleep :mad:
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Houston is asleep as well! I haven't heard a peep from them and it is about 6 weeks since I applied.
 
I agree Houston is asleep :mad: It's been 5 weeks and I haven't heard from them. I called them up yesterday and they just told me that I would hear from them via email once them process the application and then I can check the status online and it can take up 3 months....

fitness99 said:
Houston is asleep as well! I haven't heard a peep from them and it is about 6 weeks since I applied.
Click to expand...
 
basis said:
thanks boggavarapu.

I had doubt because this would not be an employment but working as a freelancer consultant.
Click to expand...


You will be fine even as a freelancer consultant. Please check with Consulate or the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs for further clarification.

Best Wishes.
 
mangal969 said:
Chicago and SF are doing well.No one i know has applied from Washington :).
Houston is doing Ok and New York is asleep :mad:
Click to expand...

Did you miss NEW ZEALAND its been 7 weeks I havnt heard a thing :mad:
 
boggavarapu said:
You will be fine even as a freelancer consultant. Please check with Consulate or the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs for further clarification.

Best Wishes.
Click to expand...

Is there any mail or contact number for MOIA / MHA to enquire abt this ? Thanks again.
 
some movements for New York

There has been good movement on grant status for applications submitted through NY. Last grant status is for file xxxx44406 on March 4th. Another 20 to go for mine to be picked up. Probably in a day or two I should see the grant status.

I scraped through with the GC process after waiting for 3 years, just in time to get out of the retrogression mess which most of them are seeing now. OCI process seems to be more streamlined for 2006 applicants.



mangal969 said:
Chicago and SF are doing well.No one i know has applied from Washington :).
Houston is doing Ok and New York is asleep :mad:
Click to expand...
 
rajudm said:
There has been good movement on grant status for applications submitted through NY. Last grant status is for file xxxx44406 on March 4th. Another 20 to go for mine to be picked up. Probably in a day or two I should see the grant status.

I scraped through with the GC process after waiting for 3 years, just in time to get out of the retrogression mess which most of them are seeing now. OCI process seems to be more streamlined for 2006 applicants.
Click to expand...

Having the 'granted' status means nothing much.The real 'fun' is when they actually inform you about the receipt of the OCI cards.And from what i know no 2006 applicant from NY has received their card as yet.
 
mangal969 said:
Having the 'granted' status means nothing much.The real 'fun' is when they actually inform you about the receipt of the OCI cards.And from what i know no 2006 applicant from NY has received their card as yet.
Click to expand...
That's true, "Granted" simply means they intend on eventually giving you an OCI if all goes well. We have cases on this forum, where photos were not clear or some data was missing, even after being "Granted", and the MHA/Consulate went back to the individual concerned to get more info.

I think you will need to wait 2-8 weeks based on other experience for the consulate to get your card, depending on which side of the mail cut-off your card gets issued probably.
 
Any one in similar boat ?

Few weeks back, I saw our OCI application status online as "GRANTED" and immediately rushed our passports to the consulate. I was simply following the instructions on the application. Seems like I was supposed to wait for an intimation from consulate before I send my passports.

Now that I sent my passports, what should I do ? I sent an email to consulate (Houston) but they dont respond. The telephone line is either busy or does'nt answer. I am sending an email to OCI dept in India as well.
 
gaurav2005 said:
Few weeks back, I saw our OCI application status online as "GRANTED" and immediately rushed our passports to the consulate. I was simply following the instructions on the application. Seems like I was supposed to wait for an intimation from consulate before I send my passports.

Now that I sent my passports, what should I do ? I sent an email to consulate (Houston) but they dont respond. The telephone line is either busy or does'nt answer. I am sending an email to OCI dept in India as well.
Click to expand...
Must be all the people saying "Houston, we have a problem!" ;)

I guess if you live no where near the consulate, you don't have much choice, but for the benefit of others, I personally would not send my passport by mail especially when they have not asked for it / have no actions they can immediately take, and will file your pp away somewhere - increasing the likelyhood of it getting lost. Chance are when they get the card, they will send you a letter asking for it to be sent without realising it is filed in archives somewhere! Keep phoning - get it back, even if it costs you extra.

"Granted" is not "issued". It is the last leg of the journey that has taken some of us 15 months, but you are still 2-8 weeks away from getting called in.
 
An OIC card costs $275 to apply and if the application is rejected, $250 is refunded. It is similar to a passport. The card-holder can visit India all his life without a visa.

He also gets exemption from registration with local police for any length of stay in India. He's also entitled facilities at par with NRIs but he's not entitled to political rights including seeking election or casting votes here.

"There is a proposal to grant them voting rights but no decision has been taken so far," says the official.
 
basis said:
"There is a proposal to grant them voting rights but no decision has been taken so far," says the official.
Click to expand...


Would you have a link for this? Voting is one the most fundamental rights of citizenship, and is totally incompatible with a "U" visa, which is all that this OIC scheme is. Either they're thinking of changing Article 9 of the Consitution, or (more likely) they're just blowing smoke again.
 
Hotdiggety said:
Would you have a link for this? Voting is one the most fundamental rights of citizenship, and is totally incompatible with a "U" visa, which is all that this OIC scheme is. Either they're thinking of changing Article 9 of the Consitution, or (more likely) they're just blowing smoke again.
Click to expand...

It is in the article the link for which is 2 posts above.
I agree that the whole voting rights thing is smoke and mirrors.OCI is not dual citizenship and in it's current form there is no way voting rights can be granted.

At some level i must confess that i personally feel i have no right to vote in India.I am a US citizen and vote in US elections.Living in the US i do not think i have the right to dictate how the indian government runs.
 
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