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Spouse New Visa Rule : For Those Who Want To Get Married
From Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/articleshow?artid=25603859
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New US visa rules delays NRIs to return with spouses
TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2002 12:37:03 AM ]
AHMEDABAD: NRI grooms flying down to marry Gujarati girls during this wedding season may be able to do 'chat mangni' and 'pat byah', but they may not be able to fly back with their spouses immediately.
A new rule introduced by the US visa authorities demands that the spouse of the newly wedded NRI should posses a passport sharing the same surname that the visa holder has.
Nilambari Sheth, head of the city's US Visa Application Centre says, "This new rule requires the spouse of the visa H1 or L1 holder to have a passport with changed name. If the applicant does not hold a passport with the changed surname, they cannot apply for the spouse dependent visa."
She adds that the US Visa Facilitation Services (VFS) centre in the city gets a large number of applications for spouse dependent visas during the NRI wedding season from October to January.
From October 2001 to September 2002, the US Consulate Mumbai, the busiest centre in the South Asia issued 5,661 H4 non-immigrant spouse dependent visas.
With the new rule, applicants for H4 and L2 spouse-dependent visa will have to obtain a passport with their new surname. If a boy gets married to an NRI girl then, he will to have a new passport indicating her name as his spouse.
Ripam Patel, a mailman from Chicago who is in Ahmedabad for the past seven weeks looking for his right match, is all set to fly back with a ticket already booked for November 14 for his would-be spouse. With this new rule, many like Patel will have to either cancel their tickets or at least postpone till their spouse receives a new passport.
"During this season, many a such applicants will have to wait for their spouses' new passport before applying for visas. The couples wanting to fly back together must apply for a new passport first," Sheth adds.
Many may think that with 'tatkal' passport facilities available, new passport will be available within a week. However, Regional Passport Officer (RPO) is planning to do away with 'tatkal sewa' for passport renewal category, in which police verification certificate is not required.
B B Swain, Regional Passport Officer (RPO), says "We are working on decreasing the processing time to 20 days from this month for renewing passports that do not require police verification certificate. We have concentrated on this segment of applications which do not require police clearance certificate and are planning to reduce the processing time. And when renewed passport can be issued within 20 days, there is no need to offer 'tatkal' facility for that category."
Re-issuing passports before they are about to expire can be done, as noted in passport application information booklet, in case of change in residence, surname, name. Ahmedabad RPO last year received 3,000 such application and this year from January to August it has received 2,500 such applications.
However, with this rule, RPO will have to gear up to handle a rush of surname-change passport applications. So, till then it is a patient waiting period for newly weds.
From Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/articleshow?artid=25603859
======================================
New US visa rules delays NRIs to return with spouses
TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2002 12:37:03 AM ]
AHMEDABAD: NRI grooms flying down to marry Gujarati girls during this wedding season may be able to do 'chat mangni' and 'pat byah', but they may not be able to fly back with their spouses immediately.
A new rule introduced by the US visa authorities demands that the spouse of the newly wedded NRI should posses a passport sharing the same surname that the visa holder has.
Nilambari Sheth, head of the city's US Visa Application Centre says, "This new rule requires the spouse of the visa H1 or L1 holder to have a passport with changed name. If the applicant does not hold a passport with the changed surname, they cannot apply for the spouse dependent visa."
She adds that the US Visa Facilitation Services (VFS) centre in the city gets a large number of applications for spouse dependent visas during the NRI wedding season from October to January.
From October 2001 to September 2002, the US Consulate Mumbai, the busiest centre in the South Asia issued 5,661 H4 non-immigrant spouse dependent visas.
With the new rule, applicants for H4 and L2 spouse-dependent visa will have to obtain a passport with their new surname. If a boy gets married to an NRI girl then, he will to have a new passport indicating her name as his spouse.
Ripam Patel, a mailman from Chicago who is in Ahmedabad for the past seven weeks looking for his right match, is all set to fly back with a ticket already booked for November 14 for his would-be spouse. With this new rule, many like Patel will have to either cancel their tickets or at least postpone till their spouse receives a new passport.
"During this season, many a such applicants will have to wait for their spouses' new passport before applying for visas. The couples wanting to fly back together must apply for a new passport first," Sheth adds.
Many may think that with 'tatkal' passport facilities available, new passport will be available within a week. However, Regional Passport Officer (RPO) is planning to do away with 'tatkal sewa' for passport renewal category, in which police verification certificate is not required.
B B Swain, Regional Passport Officer (RPO), says "We are working on decreasing the processing time to 20 days from this month for renewing passports that do not require police verification certificate. We have concentrated on this segment of applications which do not require police clearance certificate and are planning to reduce the processing time. And when renewed passport can be issued within 20 days, there is no need to offer 'tatkal' facility for that category."
Re-issuing passports before they are about to expire can be done, as noted in passport application information booklet, in case of change in residence, surname, name. Ahmedabad RPO last year received 3,000 such application and this year from January to August it has received 2,500 such applications.
However, with this rule, RPO will have to gear up to handle a rush of surname-change passport applications. So, till then it is a patient waiting period for newly weds.
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