Indian family working on H-1 Visa ...expecting a baby .. please help

[sachinjadhav22]

Hello All,
First of all I am grateful to the moderator and members of this forum who had share their expertise in resolving the immigration ( fussy) issues.

We are Indian citizens family currently working on H-1 Visa and we soon are expecting our first baby in next couple of months. We would like to travel to India along with our baby to attend my wife's sister marriage and I will greatly appreciate if you can advise me for the following questions.

1) How long does it take to get Child's birth certificate and US passport after the child birth?
2) Whether a USA new born baby requires Indian Visa ( I quite don't know what is PIO or OCI and I will ask about these issues in my next questions)?
3) Whether I should apply for PIO card and assuming that I possess PIO card whether that will recognise my child as PIO or do I need to apply for a separate PIO card for my child?
4) Can I apply for my child's PIO in USA and how long does it take? Whether the duration /procedure are different if I apply for PIO card in India?
5) Lastly do I need to make any special arrangements like carrying car seat for my baby during Air travel or whether Airlines have their own arrangements for small babies?

I greatly appreciate for all of you for your time and interest and I will be very glad if you can help me to solve my problems.

Thanks
sachin

[sachinjadhav22]

Hey Guys, I have posted my questions on this forum yesterday and I will greatly appreciate if you guys can help me by giving your valuable advice.

Thanks
Sachin

[cool_r2i]

Hello All,
First of all I am grateful to the moderator and members of this forum who had share their expertise in resolving the immigration ( fussy) issues.

We are Indian citizens family currently working on H-1 Visa and we soon are expecting our first baby in next couple of months. We would like to travel to India along with our baby to attend my wife's sister marriage and I will greatly appreciate if you can advise me for the following questions.

1) How long does it take to get Child's birth certificate and US passport after the child birth?
Ans: It differs from state to state, but generally it takes 3-4 weeks to get the birth certificate. There is a lot of rush for US passport these days. So, even with premium processing it takes 4 weeks.

2) Whether a USA new born baby requires Indian Visa ( I quite don't know what is PIO or OCI and I will ask about these issues in my next questions)?
Ans: If you get US passport, you need to get Indian Visa. Otherwise, you have the option of getting Indian passport from Indian consulate near you in which case you don't need visa for India. If you want this option, you should not have applied for US passport. But, there are issues with traveling back to USA with Indian passport. Check the thread...
http://www.immihelp.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16288&highlight=tamtom
for details.

3) Whether I should apply for PIO card and assuming that I possess PIO card whether that will recognise my child as PIO or do I need to apply for a separate PIO card for my child?
Ans: You cannot get PIO card if you are Indian citizen. But, your child can get if you have gotten US Passport for your child. Otherwise, if you take Indian passport for your child, your child don't need and your child don't get PIO card.

4) Can I apply for my child's PIO in USA and how long does it take? Whether the duration /procedure are different if I apply for PIO card in India?
Ans: You can apply either in USA or in India. I don't know about the duration/procedure.

5) Lastly do I need to make any special arrangements like carrying car seat for my baby during Air travel or whether Airlines have their own arrangements for small babies?

I greatly appreciate for all of you for your time and interest and I will be very glad if you can help me to solve my problems.

Thanks
sachin
1) How long does it take to get Child's birth certificate and US passport after the child birth?
Ans: It differs from state to state, but generally it takes 3-4 weeks to get the birth certificate. There is a lot of rush for US passport these days. So, even with premium processing it takes 4 weeks.

2) Whether a USA new born baby requires Indian Visa ( I quite don't know what is PIO or OCI and I will ask about these issues in my next questions)?
Ans: If you get US passport, you need to get Indian Visa. Otherwise, you have the option of getting Indian passport from Indian consulate near you in which case you don't need visa for India. If you want this option, you should not have applied for US passport. But, there are issues with traveling back to USA with Indian passport. Check the thread...
http://www.immihelp.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16288&highlight=tamtom
for details.

3) Whether I should apply for PIO card and assuming that I possess PIO card whether that will recognise my child as PIO or do I need to apply for a separate PIO card for my child?
Ans: You cannot get PIO card if you are Indian citizen. But, your child can get if you have gotten US Passport for your child. Otherwise, if you take Indian passport for your child, your child don't need and your child don't get PIO card.

4) Can I apply for my child's PIO in USA and how long does it take? Whether the duration /procedure are different if I apply for PIO card in India?
Ans: You can apply either in USA or in India. I don't know about the duration/procedure.

[tamtom]

5) Lastly do I need to make any special arrangements like carrying car seat for my baby during Air travel or whether Airlines have their own arrangements for small babies?


Sachin,

I discussed lap seat versus full seat for the baby in the following thread: http://www.immihelp.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24445

Hope this helps,

Tamtom

[sachinjadhav22]

Cool /Tamtom,
First of all thank you very much for your help.

After reading your answers I am now comfortable with my situation. So in terms of duration wise, It will take atleast 4 weeks to get Birth certificate and another 4 weeks to get US passport and another couple of days to get Indian visa. As I said earlier that we want to attend my sister in law marriage and that is going to happen anywhere between 7 to 10 weeks after my wife due date.

So if for some reason any delay happens in the process then whether there is any alternative to travel to India without having USA passport?


Thank you very much for your help.

[waitin_toolong]

My advice to you is to also consider a recovery period for your wife. If she delivers through C-Section then she probably will not be able to travel for at least 8-weeks.then there are immunizations and the baby's exposure issues to consider as well. Talk to both the OB and pediatrician.

It takes some time to obtain the letter from the hospital that you need to apply for the Birth Certificate, then as per current times 3-4 weeks for it.

4-10 weeks for US passport. then apply for Indian visa (at Indian Consulate takes 1 day) or 3 weeks to 3 months for PIO card option.

So if the sister in laws marriage date can be postponed to at least 3-4 months after ur wife's due date it will save you a lot of headache, especially at a time when you need all ur energies to cope with a new baby.

This is coming from someone who has seen a close friend struggle with the exact scenario.

They ended up postponing their trip to 4 months after the wedding.

[vshukla]

You may get the US passport on the same day, if you are travelling within next 14 days. You will have to call the passport agency and make an appointment. Make sure that you have the ticket or itinerary with you, when you go to passport office. Fill the Passport form, take all the required documents and wait for 2-3 hours at passport agency and your passport will be given to you.
However, there is an additional cost of $60.00 for this expedite processing.

[sachinjadhav22]

Vshukla,
Thanks for your input. I totally agree that it depends upon my wife's health as well as advice from OB/Gyn. I am gathering information from this forum so that I can be prepared for any kind of situation. I would also like to postpone the marriage or cancel the trip if all this process become a havoc to me and my family.

Once again thank you to all of you who have helped me to resolve my issues.

Sachin