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Old Mar 28, 2010, 9:59 am
  #46  
 
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Just got my visa after being snagged by the birth certifcate requirement.

The most interesting question was something along the lines of:

"Were you, your parents, OR grandparents born in Pakistan?"

WOW.
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Old Mar 28, 2010, 1:03 pm
  #47  
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Originally Posted by ChiTownAbs
Just got my visa after being snagged by the birth certifcate requirement.

The most interesting question was something along the lines of:

"Were you, your parents, OR grandparents born in Pakistan?"

WOW.
that's just the way it is....they are very careful about giving a visa to anyone with pakistani ties....
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Old Mar 28, 2010, 1:46 pm
  #48  
 
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Interesting that they're becoming just as stupidly bureaucratic as the USA. I'm dealing with that now since my mother-in-law has no birth certificate, but has had US visas in the past and has had a passport for almost 50 years. No dice, they want the birth certificate. She'll not be going to the USA any more.
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Old Mar 28, 2010, 8:07 pm
  #49  
 
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Originally Posted by saad
that's just the way it is....they are very careful about giving a visa to anyone with pakistani ties....
When was Pakistan created? 1947? My dad was born in 1948, so it's very feasible that my dad might be considered "Pakistani". (He was indeed born in modern day India) Asking about my grandparents? Now you're really digging ...
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Old Mar 29, 2010, 2:40 am
  #50  
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Originally Posted by ChiTownAbs
When was Pakistan created? 1947? My dad was born in 1948, so it's very feasible that my dad might be considered "Pakistani". (He was indeed born in modern day India) Asking about my grandparents? Now you're really digging ...
people born before 1947 are not considered pakistani if they moved to india immediately after independence....
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Old Mar 30, 2010, 7:29 am
  #51  
 
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Originally Posted by ChiTownAbs
Just got my visa after being snagged by the birth certifcate requirement.

The most interesting question was something along the lines of:

"Were you, your parents, OR grandparents born in Pakistan?"

WOW.
This is because David Headley who was behind the 26/11 attackes hid his .... ancestry as he used his step fathers christian name and avoided the extra scrutiny he would have normally required. Like FRO reporting etc.

Hence they're making sure that all who apply are not hiding their pakistani origin to avoid extra visa scrutiny.

http://tinyurl.com/ydv78js
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Old Mar 30, 2010, 11:40 am
  #52  
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
How ever would the average Indian consulate/embassy worker have a clue about which submitted birth certificate copy is legitimate or not, even if only dealing with a limited subset of the states (as is their normal desire)?

I doubt they are calling up the state vital records offices about each and every birth certificate issued and getting a timely response so as to turn over visas as quickly as they do currently.

These latest requirements smack of political-bureaucratic stupidity laced with CYA thinking of the worst sort.
this CYA measure has been implemented in the wake of David Coleman Headley fiasco. This too causes inconvenience to normal people, as almost all bureaucratic measures do.
U.S. passport has place of birth on it. Even if the Indian Embassy had asked David Coleman for a birth certificate, his birth certificate would have merely confirmed the U.S. as his place of birth.
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Old Mar 30, 2010, 11:43 am
  #53  
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Originally Posted by Athena53
Yeah, that occurred to me, too. A colleague is getting her 5-year Indian visa transferred because it was in a now-expired US passport. (After researching on FT we decided that hoping she could get by with the old passport containing the valid visa plus the new passport was too chancy.) She still needs an invitation from our office in India. She still needs a letter from one of our officers saying that she won't become dependent on the government of India. And yes, after I suggested she look into it, she needs a birth certificate. The only difference is that it's cheaper to transfer the old one than to buy a new one.

Gotta love government bureaucracies. But then I hear what my colleagues in India endure to visit the UK, Switzerland and the US and I don't feel as bad.
I have always been able to get through immigration with my 10 yr Indian visa in an expired U.S. passport. Are they now refusing to allow entry on a visa in an expired passport?
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Old Mar 30, 2010, 12:44 pm
  #54  
 
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Originally Posted by Yaatri
I have always been able to get through immigration with my 10 yr Indian visa in an expired U.S. passport. Are they now refusing to allow entry on a visa in an expired passport?
India and the USA have (assuming it hasn't recently been abrogated) a bilateral treaty on this issue that specifically permits each other's nationals to have full validity of visas regardless of passport expiry, as well as to enter each other's countries up to the last date of passport validity.
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Old Mar 30, 2010, 2:15 pm
  #55  
 
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Originally Posted by Yaatri
I have always been able to get through immigration with my 10 yr Indian visa in an expired U.S. passport. Are they now refusing to allow entry on a visa in an expired passport?
My daughter has her "Lifetime" visa, that she received with her OCI card, stamped on a passport that has since expired. She was allowed entry last week with the expired passport with the visa in it along with a valid US passport.

Now with this OCI thing, turns out she will be traveling to India for the rest of her life (she is 5 now) with her infant passport, as well as an unexpired one, and the little OCI booklet. Probably not a question for this thread, but seems pointless to have the OCI booklet as well as a stamped "visa".
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Old Mar 30, 2010, 2:22 pm
  #56  
 
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Originally Posted by ChiTownAbs
When was Pakistan created? 1947? My dad was born in 1948, so it's very feasible that my dad might be considered "Pakistani". (He was indeed born in modern day India) Asking about my grandparents? Now you're really digging ...
Many people my age have parents/ grandparents who were born in what is now Pakistan. They moved to India during the partition. What would, for instance, pre-independence Lahore be considered if you wanted to answer whether your grandparents were born in Pakistan? It was all India back then.
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Old Mar 30, 2010, 4:52 pm
  #57  
 
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Originally Posted by knit-in
My daughter has her "Lifetime" visa, that she received with her OCI card, stamped on a passport that has since expired. She was allowed entry last week with the expired passport with the visa in it along with a valid US passport.

Now with this OCI thing, turns out she will be traveling to India for the rest of her life (she is 5 now) with her infant passport, as well as an unexpired one, and the little OCI booklet. Probably not a question for this thread, but seems pointless to have the OCI booklet as well as a stamped "visa".
I've wondered about the booklet, too. The immigration agents ask for it, but is it required if you have the visa in your passport? It doesn't really have any vital information in it that isn't in your passport and visa.
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Old Mar 30, 2010, 4:58 pm
  #58  
 
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Originally Posted by Mr. Bean
I've wondered about the booklet, too. The immigration agents ask for it, but is it required if you have the visa in your passport? It doesn't really have any vital information in it that isn't in your passport and visa.
I asked the last time I was leaving DEL. The immigration officer said that I HAD to carry the booklet as well as the passport that contains the visa. Then he looked at my ten year valid visa and decided that if I didnt want to, then I didnt need to carry the booklet.

I'm not sure but I dont remember there being a separate visa stamped on the passport with a PIO card. Is there?
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Old Mar 30, 2010, 8:12 pm
  #59  
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Originally Posted by knit-in
My daughter has her "Lifetime" visa, that she received with her OCI card, stamped on a passport that has since expired. She was allowed entry last week with the expired passport with the visa in it along with a valid US passport.

Now with this OCI thing, turns out she will be traveling to India for the rest of her life (she is 5 now) with her infant passport, as well as an unexpired one, and the little OCI booklet. Probably not a question for this thread, but seems pointless to have the OCI booklet as well as a stamped "visa".
We are not talking about OCI.
Sorry. OCI is an entirely different scenario. OCI would be meaningless if it expired with the passport.
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Old Mar 30, 2010, 8:16 pm
  #60  
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Originally Posted by B747-437B
India and the USA have (assuming it hasn't recently been abrogated) a bilateral treaty on this issue that specifically permits each other's nationals to have full validity of visas regardless of passport expiry, as well as to enter each other's countries up to the last date of passport validity.
Thank you B747-437B. Your responses are always very informative and relevant to the query.
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