Question regarding acquiring OCI for self/ PIO for my wife

S

seth_nat400

Registered Users (C)
Hello,

I am in the process of acquiring U.S citizenship (waiting for the oath). I have few questions regarding obtaining OCI for myself and PIO for my US born wife of Italian descent.

1. Could my US born wife apply for PIO on the basis of my OCI? The reason I am asking is that I noticed that the requirement says that "Are the spouse of a citizen of India or a person of Indian origin as defined by the criteria listed above." When they say person of Indian origin, do they mean holder of PIO card and not OCI?

2. Once I obtain my US citizenship, would my wife be able to apply for PIO along with my application for OCI?

3. Would OCI/PIO cause any negative impact on obtaining security clearance for US govt/private jobs?

I apologize if I sound clueless. I am new to the OCI/PIO issues and still trying to navigate through the details. I would appreciate your input.

thanks.
 
My two cents:

1. No, they mean are you (your wife's husband) ethnically Indian and can you prove it? Your wife was/is always eligible for PIO status being married to you who is an Indian citizen. Once you naturalize, you can still prove your heritage as a person of Indian origin by producing copies of your former Indian passport or your new OCI card. One thing to consider about getting PIO card for your wife is that it is very expensive (compared to the 10 year visitor visa) and PIO is valid for only 15 years. So if the intent is to use it only for visits to India, you may want to consider just getting a 10 year visa for the wife. My wife is also American with no Indian heritage and we went the 10 year visa route for her.

2. Not sure about jointly applying for your OCI and your wife's PIO. It probably makes sense to do this sequentially to avoid any hassles. Get your OCI first and then apply for her PIO.

3. Getting OCI/PIO status should not have an impact of high security level clearance work. OCI is not a citizenship despite the name, it is a special status. So by getting OCI, you're not getting dual citizenship and so you should not have any problems with what you laid out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top