US Born Child Citizenship - Advice Required!

[soumenchoudhury]

Hi-

My child is born in USA, and I need to apply for her passport. My understanding is applying for passport is a determining criteria for Citizenship status till 18 years of age.

I and my wife are Indian citizens by birth and would go back to India in 2-3 years along with our child. My child will get educated in India.

I have the option of applying for US Passport + OCI/PCI, but if I do so and on going back to India I have to educate my child as NRI and she cannot hold Govt Office or work as public servant because she will be US Citizen, I know she can change it once she is 18 years but I will still have to educate her as NRI till then.

My Question is a 5 part question (all related) and I really appreciate your help.

1. If I apply for an Indian Passport - will she have rights as an Indian till 18 years?
i.e. - Stay & study India with same rights as children born in India.

2. Once she is 18 years old - Can she decide if she wants to renounce Indian Citizenship and apply for US Citizenship or keep her Indian Citizenship?

3. If she retains Indian Citizenship will she have all rights as Indian (voting, public servant, govt official, etc) ?

4. If she decides to renounce Indian Citizenship and request USA Citizenship will she have all rights in USA as US citizens (voting, public servant, govt official, etc)?

5. If we apply Indian Passport for child and if need to come back to USA (for our Job) before she is 18 years old, will there be issues (as my daughter will be citizen by birth but hold Indian Passport)

[immihelp]

You can't have best of both worlds. You need to decide one way or another.

Answer is Yes to all of your 5 questions.

[cafeconleche]

You can use loopholes to "keep" Indian citizenship, but it will be illegal. The child will remain a US citizen whether you like it or not, and this means the child, per the Indian constitution, will NOT be an Indian citizen. You can try to get around it by applying for an Indian passport and travelling on it to India, and then pretending that she is an Indian citizen. If she wants to travel to the US at any time, though, she will require a US passport unless you intend to misrepresent her to CBP. If she decides to run for office in future (as you want her to be able to do), it could easily come out that she was born in the US but was educated as an Indian citizen. There's no way of telling. It's a tough situation, and I suggest you listen to a lot of opinions and advice before you do anything.

[RihhanaNZ]

A major issue got solved. Thanks for the detailed explanation.