OCI card Vs Entry Visa

[dhruvmishra]

Hello All,

I am an Indian citizen living in US and have a 7 month old child with US passport.

My question is very simple and basic. Why everyone is after getting the OCI card for kids when -
1. OCI card fees is higher than entry visa.
2. The time period of about 4 months to get the OCI is way longer than the visa which I believe is in days/weeks. Documents and to and fro makes OCI processing complex as well.
3. Most importantly, kids have to get the US passport reissues every 5 years and then OCI card is also required to be renewed (which seems as good as applying for fresh OCI).

I have a 7 month old child and I feel when compared to OCI, applying for entry visa (of 5 years validity) is less time taking and would be valid even with the new US passport.

1. Can experts suggest if my understanding is correct and is there hidden advantage of having OCI over entry visa?
2. How long a US citizen child of Indian parents can stay in India on a visa?

Thanks,
-Dhruv

[hoolahoous]

1. Can experts suggest if my understanding is correct and is there hidden advantage of having OCI over entry visa?
2. How long a US citizen child of Indian parents can stay in India on a visa?

1) you can get all benefits of indian citizens except voting and few others. (buying land etc.)
2) Visa holders can stay for max 6 months but OCI can stay unlimited period.

these benefits were not very useful to me so I opted for visa. it was too painful to get OCI.

[dhruvmishra]

1) you can get all benefits of indian citizens except voting and few others. (buying land etc.)
2) Visa holders can stay for max 6 months but OCI can stay unlimited period.

these benefits were not very useful to me so I opted for visa. it was too painful to get OCI.

Thanks hoolahoous for your response. I am also convinced now to go for Visa instead of OCI.

[sunrag1]

Thanks hoolahoous for your response. I am also convinced now to go for Visa instead of OCI.

If you have plans to settle in US (outside of India) and visiting India just for vacation/short period then go for E-visa. There are not much docs to submit also (Evisa is for 30 days duration only). Otherwise go for OCI if there are plans to settle in India in future.

[ProNRI]

OCI is actually detrimental!

If you have plans to settle in US (outside of India) and visiting India just for vacation/short period then go for E-visa. There are not much docs to submit also (Evisa is for 30 days duration only). Otherwise go for OCI if there are plans to settle in India in future.

Since I found out about these unrealistic requirements and extremely painful and unreliable processes behind those requirements (which the Indian government has never cared to look at to see how stupid the whole thing is) having an OCI card becomes more of a burden than a boon:

https://www.indianembassy.org/pages.php?id=20

http://mha1.nic.in/pdfs/GuidelinesOCI.pdf

https://www.in.ckgs.us/oci/oci-categories.shtml

Stay away from OCI card unless you are sure that you want to stay in India for longer than six months and/or settle there.

Jaydeep