Indian passport for US new born

[sumantagayen]

Does anybody know if its possible to apply for a Indian passport in US for a US born baby of Indian Parents. And if so what are the criteria and documents required for this? And also how much time does it take to process?

[tamtom]

Does anybody know if its possible to apply for a Indian passport in US for a US born baby of Indian Parents. And if so what are the criteria and documents required for this? And also how much time does it take to process?

Yes, it's possible. We've done this and know several others who have too.

The criteria are at least one parent must be an Indian citizen at the time of birth, the application must be within the first year since the baby was born, the child must not already have a US passport, and both parents must approve.

The documents required are the child's US birth certificate, consular birth registration (which you can apply for at the same time), notarised copies of both parents' passports, and notarised parental approval statement. You can get the forms and instructions from your Indian consulate's web site.

It took us a few weeks to apply.

After that, it's not necessary (and even not possible) to apply for a US visa for the child. The US will continue to treat the child as a US citizen based on the US birth certificate.

The twist is that the US still will expect the child to get a US passport for future entries to the US, which leads India to cancel the Indian passport. So, if the family needs to make many US-India trips, it's hard to avoid eventually cancelling the child's Indian passport. It's been discussed extensively on other threads here.

--Tamtom

[pgowda]

Hi tamtom.
I have read all your posts and would like to thank for providing such authorative info. I greately appreciate that. keep it up!! My situation is also like this and I need your advice:
Me and my wife are indian citizens currenty on work visa in US and got our baby born here last month. I havn't applied for US birth critificate/passport yet. I primarily want to retain indian citizenship for my baby so that I can offord the school/college fees once we go back to india ;-). I would also like to keep the option of US citizen until the kid decides to renounce on his own at 18 yrs. I know am trying to get best out of both worlds. but if there is such an option, why not explore is the motto. so i have these questions (pardon me if you have already answered them elsewhere)

1. I read in your posts that we can apply for indian passport for our baby here and travel to India using that. Are there any chances of deniel of boarding/immigration issues while leaving US with indian passport? or no problems whtsoever? pls let me know, since only my wife and baby are going back to india in couple of months and she has to manage it alone.

2. I read in another thread that US, now has made it mandatory for its citizens (in our case, my kid if gets his US birth certificate) to travel with US passport even while leaving the country. Is this law already in effect? If so, then how can we go with indian passport? wht other options do we have to retain indian citizenship? also which US authority should we contact to get the corrent status of this law?

3. you mentioned that you informed US consulate in india about your arrival. But why do you do that? do I need to inform in my case too? wht are the implications if we don;t do that?

4. once we reach india, while admitting the baby for schools, can we safely mention that the baby is indian? or in general, can he enjoy the full citizenship, without any issues?

pls help me to take a proper decision.
thx

[pvcn]

Indian passport for US new born

Thanks you for all posts in this thread. This is informational. I am having a baby in next couple of weeks and decided to apply for India passport for the baby as I am moving back to India for good in next couple of months. I just want to know what should I do if I want to bring my baby back to US either for tourism or short visits with out loosing his India passport. Any help in this regard will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[waitin_toolong]

Hi tamtom.
I have read all your posts and would like to thank for providing such authorative info. I greately appreciate that. keep it up!! My situation is also like this and I need your advice:
Me and my wife are indian citizens currenty on work visa in US and got our baby born here last month. I havn't applied for US birth critificate/passport yet. I primarily want to retain indian citizenship for my baby so that I can offord the school/college fees once we go back to india ;-). I would also like to keep the option of US citizen until the kid decides to renounce on his own at 18 yrs. I know am trying to get best out of both worlds. but if there is such an option, why not explore is the motto. so i have these questions (pardon me if you have already answered them elsewhere)

1. I read in your posts that we can apply for indian passport for our baby here and travel to India using that. Are there any chances of deniel of boarding/immigration issues while leaving US with indian passport? or no problems whtsoever? pls let me know, since only my wife and baby are going back to india in couple of months and she has to manage it alone.

2. I read in another thread that US, now has made it mandatory for its citizens (in our case, my kid if gets his US birth certificate) to travel with US passport even while leaving the country. Is this law already in effect? If so, then how can we go with indian passport? wht other options do we have to retain indian citizenship? also which US authority should we contact to get the corrent status of this law?

3. you mentioned that you informed US consulate in india about your arrival. But why do you do that? do I need to inform in my case too? wht are the implications if we don;t do that?

4. once we reach india, while admitting the baby for schools, can we safely mention that the baby is indian? or in general, can he enjoy the full citizenship, without any issues?

pls help me to take a proper decision.
thx

Go ahead apply for birth certificate, Because even for Indian passport you will need the birth certificate. Only the place where the baby is born has the authority to issue birth certificate. that itself takes a few weeks, you can decide in the interim about citizenship.

[pgowda]

update

Thanks waitin_toolong and tamtom. I got US birth certificate and then Indian Passport for my baby.

just to update my case: my wife and the baby travelled India successfully yesterday on indian passports. they went on lufthansa airlines via frankfurt.

however, there were some scary moments at the port of departure. the lufthansa guys initally didn't accept the birth certificate logic. they wanted either a US or German visa on the baby's passport. But I had a copy of the email communication that I had with German consulate and Lufthansa airlines, which says the US birth certificate is suffice. they seemed to be not satisfied with that and went inside to check with senior person. finally they seemed to be little ok and issued the boarding pass. But they also informed us that they won;t allow us to travel next time, if we go without US or German visa.

so we may need to get transit visa next time. But not sure if we can get that either as this web site doesn't mention how to get it. may be travelling on Air-India would not have these problems I guess.

[sandy1978]

When is Indian passport cancelled

Yes, it's possible. We've done this and know several others who have too.

The criteria are at least one parent must be an Indian citizen at the time of birth, the application must be within the first year since the baby was born, the child must not already have a US passport, and both parents must approve.

The documents required are the child's US birth certificate, consular birth registration (which you can apply for at the same time), notarised copies of both parents' passports, and notarised parental approval statement. You can get the forms and instructions from your Indian consulate's web site.

It took us a few weeks to apply.

After that, it's not necessary (and even not possible) to apply for a US visa for the child. The US will continue to treat the child as a US citizen based on the US birth certificate.

The twist is that the US still will expect the child to get a US passport for future entries to the US, which leads India to cancel the Indian passport. So, if the family needs to make many US-India trips, it's hard to avoid eventually cancelling the child's Indian passport. It's been discussed extensively on other threads here.

--Tamtom

Hi Tamtom, you mentioned about the twist which leads India to cancel the Indian passport. At what point does it happen - is this while the child is checking out at the customs. Can we not simply show child's US passport to check out from India.

I am assuming it will be possible to first get Indian passport and then apply for US passport. Excuse my lack of knowledge about this.

[indianium]

If child born in US then he/she automatically become US citizen (Same thing if child born in India).
Now, if one parent is US citizen and one parent is Indian citizen then there is provision to acquire child citizenship either of the country.
For US (if child born in India), you should apply US passport at US consulate abroad within 2-years of birth (your child must not have an Indian passport) which means your child is US citizen (later in USA you can file N-600 for child citizenship certificate).
For India (if child born in US), you have to apply within one year of birth and your child must not have US passport otherwise apply OCI card.
In either situation child is citizen of the country where he/ she born (later no one can stop him/ her to acquire citizenship based on country of birth).
Please add more info if anybody have more knowledge about it. Thanks.

Cancellation of passport: You can not enter in India without proper visa (they will return you from where you come from, it is true) and Indian government do not provide entry visa at airport except under extreme situation, e.g., you are visiting under situation of death of immediate relative not just sickness.
To get Indian visa, e.g., tourist visa:- you were Indian citizen, carried Indian passport before and now naturalized US citizen, you must renounce Indian citizenship (there is a form XVII) at the time of applying tourist or any other visa, you may even request to cancel your Indian passport at this time or wait till you apply OCI/ PIO card.