My family and I will be going to India in May 2013 to visit family for approx 2 months. I decided to start the visa paperwork on my vacation as I have heard the stories of all the formalities one must go thru to get even the most basic tourist visa. I will keep updating this thread as I know more of our situation.

The particulars

Wife -- naturalized US citizen in 2011 and recvd new US passport in Jan 2012. First, I must "formally renunciate" her Indian citizenship before I can get a tourist visa or anything for that matter. Fee -- $175. I have not heard of any other country asking for formal renunciation but this might just be because I have never had to renunciate citizenship before.

Wife -- requires tourist visa -- cost for 10yrs -- $166. Will do OCI when we have some time so I do not need her passport for travel as doing OCI takes a long time.

Son -- 1.5yrs old at time of travel -- US passport -- requires tourist visa for 5 yrs -- $166

Daughter -- PIO holder -- Need a new endorsement on her new passport for her PIO. Requires that both parents send "Certificate of Renunciation" for this new endorsement to take effect.

Myself -- naturalized in 1996 and got my OCI in 2006. Never did I have to "renunciate" my citizenship and now I have to go thru the formality so I can get the endorsement for my daughter. I have been to India many time since I gotten my OCI and never has this issue of renunciation ever come up.

The paperwork

Wife -- after getting all the basic paperwork together such as copies of old Indian passport, new passport, proof of address, copies of renunciation forms, and a money order, I was ready to send everything out.

For toursit visa, you can send the paperwork along with the renunciation paperwork, but you need to send another duplicate set of the same paperwork along with pictures. The next step was a first for me -- I had to upload a digital passport photo along with digital picture of her signature to the visa outsourcing company (Travisa Outsourcing) and if this step was not done, delays would entail of a min of 48 hours in processing. So I had to go a FEDEX Kinkos, get passport photos, come back and upload and then go again to ship the FEDEX envelope to Travisa.

One particular about the signature -- it MUST be COMPLETELY inside the box -- if any part of it is outside the box -- your application WILL BE REJECTED. I have never come across this and I have had to get tourist visas to a lot of countries.

Son -- Basic paperwork for a tourist visa and he requires a copy of his birth certificate, proof of address for BOTH parents and passport copies of both parents. For his signature, both parents must sign inside the box (or be rejected) and he must imprint his left(for boys, right for girls) thumbprint. I really do not understand the logic behind this as I seriously doubt a customs officer will be checking his thumbprint to make sure that it is correctly imprinted. Also, try to get a 1.5yr old to sit still and get the thumbprint EXACTLY inside a box. Again, I have to upload the photo and digital signature.

One thing that has struck me as odd -- all the paperwork must be sent thru TRAVISA Outsourcing. Nothing can be sent to the consulate directly. I have heard horror stories of Travisa losing paperwork and delays for months, so I was a bit nervous of sending all the paperwork. I usually use a visa company in Houston that gets all my visas done periodically and they are very reliable, so I wanted to use them again, but they directed me to Travisa.

On Thursday, I sent all the paperwork for myself, wife and son thru FEDEX next day air and enclosed a return envelope via UPS next day Air. Travisa recvd the package on Friday and sent confirmation emails for all the paperwork on Friday itself. Lets see how long this process will take and if any issues pop up.

Still need to do the PIO endorsement for my daughter but that will be done after I get the "formal renunciation certificate".

What strikes me as odd is that India (being a close partner with the USA) actually makes the tourist process very complicated with some insane rules and regulations.

I had to get a business visa for Bolivia (not an ally or partner with the USA) and even that process was easier than the process with India.

Anyway, I digress -- started this work at 8am onThursday and after three phone calls to Travisa in Houston with an avg hold time of 25-30 mins, I finished around 4pm with an hour long break for lunch. Hopefully, everything will work out well.