Registration for 22 month old US Citizen in India ?

[kenai]

Folks,

My 22 month old daughter who is a US citizen is presently visiting India with her mother. My daughter is a US citizen and she has a five year entry visa to visit India. She has been in India for well over 9 months and will be returning to the US soon. We recently learnt that she may be required to register with the authorities in India.

I called the Indian Consulate in New York and they confirmed that she has to register with the "appropriate authorities in India". When I asked for further information, they asked us to take the child's passport to "any police station" in India and that they would know what to do. So my wife followed their advice and went to a local police station in Visakhapatnam, India. Of course, the police had no clue what registration meant and turned her away.

According to the Bureau of Immigration, India, registration is not required for foreign children under 16 years of age. See:

http://immigrationindia.nic.in/registration_requirements.htm

When I pointed this out to the Indian Consulate in NY, they were indifferent and stuck by their position that registration is required.

Has anyone in this forum had a similar experience ? I would appreciate your views on this matter.

Thank you very much for your help.

 

[rg585]

My daughter who is a USC has been living in India for the past 4 years and is studying there. She had to go and Extend her stay at the Police Commissioner's office since the regular Visa's allow you to stay for only 6 months at a time. This extension however allows her to stay until the expiry of her passport or the Visa. We did this in Bangalore and had to do it twice since her passport expired when she was 5 and we had to apply for a new US passport and then go back again and extend until the Visa expires in 10 years. She is 7 years now and it is not true that they do not need to do anything until they are 16 years old.

 

[kenai]

Thanks rg585 ! You are right. Even children below the age of 16 are required to register. We made some enquiries with local police stations in Visakhapatnam and found one that handles registration for foreigners. The police station confirmed that registration is required for children as well.

Also, a friend recently told me that his friend's three year old child was stopped at airport immigration when attempting to exit India. The child had been in India for over 6 months on a 5 year visa and did not register. The immigration authorities turned the child and his parents away and told them that the child could not leave India without registering. So they had to return to their home town and register the child. After this they were all allowed to leave India and had no problems.

Thanks again for your help rg585.