Indian passport for US born !!

[linuxbees]

Hello All,

I have a question on applying a Indian passport for our baby, born in US. There has been numerous discussions on this topic. I have read many of them ( if not all ) and still have some grey areas !!

The NRI education is too costly in India and we cannot afford it as we are planning to go back to India next year. I understand that the US born child is an US citizen, by US laws. However, India grants citizenship to those who were born in US ( less than 1 year old ) and did not voluntarily acquire citizenship from US.

Here are my options, unclear to me :

1) Birth certificate from Indian embassy + US Passport : After registering her birth at Indian embassy in US, Can she apply for a US passport ? This way, she has the birth certificate as Indian and US passport for travel purposes. Is this possible ? I guess schools in India require birth certificate for admissions and not the passports.

2) Birth certificate from Indian embassy + Indian Passport : After registering her birth at Indian embassy in US, apply for Indian passport. However, if she goes to India for a vacation, the US consulate in India cannot issue her visa for her return - because US treats her as US citizen. Otherwords, US consulate will expect her to travel with US passport.

In India, can she get US passport without renouncing Indian citizenship ( if at all she needs to travel )? I dont think so. Can anyone confirm ?

( I understand, she can choose her citizenship once she becomes 18 years old )

Disadvantage : Difficulty in returning to US.
Advantages : a) Treated as Indians for education.
b) Can choose her citizenship once she turns 18.

3) US Passport : Get a US passport and Indian visa on it.

Disadvantages: Indian education too costly for a US citizen
Advantages: a) Can travel from/US without any issues.
b) Can stay in either country at will.

Thank you all,
JP

[sk4ih]

1) By looking at birth place, schools may want to know if she's Indian or US citizen. So just birth certificate alone may not be sufficient to wrongly prove to schools that candidate is Indian, right?

2) What exactly you mean by 'can she get US passport without renouncing Indian citizenship'?
After acquiring another country's citizenship, it's candidate's responsibility to renounce Indian citizenship.

[linuxbees]

Thanks for your reply.

1) I am not sure - kind of contradicting. As per the US laws, children born in US are considered US citizens - With or without US passport, doesn't matter. In order to facilitate the Indians who have their children born in US to "acquire" Indian citizenship, Indian embassy issues this type of birth certificate. Thats my understanding. May be you are right. The schools may ask for additional proof when they see the birth certificate issued by the "embassy" !!

2) May be I was not clear in my last request. Here I go again :

If our child gets Indian passport and travels to India, she cannot get US visa on her Indian passport in order to return to US. She has to travel with US passport. Should she cancel her Indian citizenship to get the US passport ?

I understand that it is the candidate's responsibility to renounce Indian citizenship upon acquiring another country's citizenship. However, it is difficult/next to impossible to renounce US citizenship if the candidate is less than 18 years old.

[sk4ih]

2) Found in another post.
You're right that person can't reject US citizenship before 18. But it seems Air India allows to travel on US birth certificate alone (not US passport).

[RohanSapkal]

Still Confusing

Hi,

I want to go by option
2) Birth certificate from Indian embassy + Indian Passport :

What I understand from this option is, I can get Birth certificate and Indian Passport for my child at Indian embassy and that will give my child Indian citizenship recognition. But with these two documents how to I travel back to India because to go out of US my child will require US passport because he is born in US. US law do not care about Birth certificate and Indian Passport from Indian embassy. And if I get US Passport then I will loss Indian Passport.

I am missing here something?????

[linuxbees]

1) You don't a US passport to go out of the country !!
2) You DO need a US passport to come back to US again. That is where the problem is.

[RohanSapkal]

career options

I heard that even after I get Indian passport and birth certificate he can be considered as NRi when it comes to education.

Also even if my child select to be Indian citizen after 18, he cannot do career in Indian defence or DRDO etc. Is this a rumour or true?

Is their a difference between citizenship by birth & citizenship by descent?

[mesenthil]

Hi Guys,

Did any of you guys succeed on getting the answers for the original 2nd question?
.i.e.,

1. After getting Indian passport and traveling to India, if the child wants to come back to USA, what is the procedure. Can the baby get US Visa.. if I apply visa by mentioning indian citizenship and birth place as "USA", will the visa get rejected?

[linuxbees]

Based on my investigation, it is not possible for a US citizen to get US visa from India.