abhilife2001

but frankly, IMHO, I feel we easily tend to speak against India whereas no one can say anything whenever US or any 'developed' st workd country does anything..since they will say the word 'security' and thts the answer to any and everything they so..
wht can be the plausible explanation for the US embassy action as given in detail below in my post..

B747-437B

I hope this is intended to be tongue in cheek. I know at least a dozen people personally who do exactly this, including some extended family members.

oliver2002

How does that work in practice? When you leave the country the BoI takes pains to make sure you have a visa for your destination, as does the airline transporting you? Surely showing them an indian passport without a visa for the destination wouldn't suffice?

PHL_roadwarrior

I can see how this could work going INTO India. But I fail to see how this could work coming out (outbound immigration asks to see entry documentation for the destination country, don't they?) - If an Indian passport was used to get in, there is no Indian entry stamp on the US passport. If they show only US passport to the outbound immigration people, then that US passport doesn't carry an Indian entry stamp/visa.....

GUWonder

There's no evidence of that being the case on FT. Governments get the criticism they deserve, the US no exception to that here on FT. Have you checked out the Travel Safety & Security forum on FT? It's interesting.

GUWonder

But for those with legal residency status in a second/third country with the residency permit for the other country issued in relation to their Indian passport, they may be able to pull the above off if the non-Indian citizenship is that of a country beside the one for which they have a valid residency permit in relation to the Indian passport and such persons have not naturalized in that other country.

Some previously former Indian citizens who became PIOs/OCIs have since naturalized so as to become Indian citizens again and done so by surrendering (one of their 3+) citizenship(s) in a third or fourth country. The Indian government is none the wiser for it because they use residency permits/visas affiliated with their Indian passports when exiting and entering India and surrendered citizenship of some country.

The Indian government is trying to chase after a horse that has long ago left the barn.

GUWonder

It could be done by Indian passport holders who meet at least both of the following conditions: had a European residency permit granted in relation to the Indian passport; had earlier become naturalized in the US.

PHL_roadwarrior

Looks like the online petition (??) and any other pressure brought on worked....
http://www.indiacgny.org/php/showHig...?h_id=144&key=

Fee for surrender of old indian passports for people who became citizens of foreign countries prior to end of May 2010 reduced to $20 (mention of fines etc. seems to have disappeared as well.....)^

GUWonder

"Uncle!", or should that be "Auntie!"? Oh, why not both.

Mr. Bean

I believe this was only printed on Indian passports renewed at foreign posts. One of my relatives recently got OCI and when we looked at her Indian passport, there was no such stamp. She did not have to renew her Indian passport overseas.

How long ago was that? I don't think the US ever had laws against dual nationality, so I don't know why that would have applied.

My father also got OCI about 3 months ago and he did not have to renounce his Indian passport.

For the airline, you can probably show your other passport and get away with it. For BoI, I'm not sure how one would get around that.

Also, with programs like Global Entry in the US, I'm guessing it is technically possible to enter India on one passport and come back on your foreign one. There are no stamps in your passport and no one checks it. But that would be breaking the rules of the program, I think :/

-----------------------------------------------------

I still have two Indian passports (one officially canceled, one not - although it has expired) in my possession. I already have OCI, but I would have considered surrendering the uncanceled one if not for the aggressive $$ grabbing backhand. After all, who knows what retroactive laws and penalties GoI will try to implement next. Now I'm inclined to keep holding on to it and instead give the figurative finger to the lawmakers <== and no, not this finger

Mr. Bean

I don't see anything at that link in Opera or FireFox. Anyone have the text?

Mr. Bean

Ah here it is - had to navigate to it from the home page:

oliver2002

The US encourages you to use two passports if you have dual nationality (as they allow it) so if you have german and US nationality, you should use your german passport to leave Germany and your US passport to enter the US. India however doesn't allow dual nationality, so the 'oh I have two passports' shouldn't really work either at the checkin desk as well as the immigration desk when you are leaving. And yes, the BoI checks where you are going and if you have a permit to go where you are going. The simple reason behind that is for the GoI to avoid the hassle of dealing with deportees and getting further blacklisted with certain governments.

d3vski

Many posters are asking how it is possible to get past BoI in India with an Indian passport on exit if you also have foreign citizenship.

Well in the UK it is very easy. When you naturalize, as a pre requisite you must have PR status and in the UK, the PR status is a permit pasted onto your foreign passport. So when you naturalize the UK does not cancel the PR permit and returns your foreign passport back to you. A little while later, you get a certificate of naturalization and you pop down to the passport office and get your new UK passport but nobody cancels your PR permit in your now technically invalid Indian passport.

When travelling to India, you just use your Indian passport as it still has the PR stamp/permit which is valid as it does not have an expiry date. When leaving India, the BoI will just assume that you do have not bothered to naturalize and if you do not carry your foreign passport in India, they will be none the wiser unless they do intensive checks with the British authorities. While arriving in the UK, you will be stamped in as a PR status holder.

Their is also a sinister side why the Indians are asking for proof of surrendering because the newly naturalized Brits are selling their old Indian passports with PR stamps for large amounts of money to people traffickers.

The UK is putting pressure on India to stem the flow of irregular migrants (at the end of the day they are Indian citizens) and India has to be seen to make efforts to reduce it otherwise their would be harsher visa regime being introduced. e.g. interviews for every person, far more in depth papers or a cap on amount of visas issued.