Indian visa for UK passport holder baby of Indian parents

[ranadip]

Hi,

I am planning to go to India on holiday and have to apply for a visa for my 4 month old baby who holds a UK passport. I have found ambiguous information on the HCI and VFS websites, hence hoping to get some help from people who have handled the situation recently:
1. Both parents are holding Indian passport, so the visa application is only for the baby. Who should sign the application form? There is no mention of what needs to be done for babies - either a parent signing it or getting a thumb impression for the baby, etc.

Any help will be gratefully acknowledged. Thank you

Regards,
Ranadip

[visjig]

First of all I am very confused as to how your baby got UK passport as you and your wife are holding Indian Citizenship at the moment? Only kids of UK citizens are eligible for UK citizenship. Please clarify this.

Good luck.

[ranadip]

First of all I am very confused as to how your baby got UK passport as you and your wife are holding Indian Citizenship at the moment? Only kids of UK citizens are eligible for UK citizenship. Please clarify this.

Good luck.

Ah, you are confusing between "holding a passport" and "citizenship". A person holding a passport of a country IS usually a citizen of that country, but not holding the passport of a country does NOT necessarily make one an alien in a country...if you know what I mean. Rest of the story consists of personal details that I cannot divulge in an open forum.

[visjig]

Ah, you are confusing between "holding a passport" and "citizenship". A person holding a passport of a country IS usually a citizen of that country, but not holding the passport of a country does NOT necessarily make one an alien in a country...if you know what I mean. Rest of the story consists of personal details that I cannot divulge in an open forum.

If you have Indian Passports - this makes you Indian Citizens. And children of Indian citizens cannot get UK Citizenship or UK passport for their child even if they are born in UK.

Unless you have Indian passports and then have now got UK Citizenship and passport then your child gets UK Citizenship. In this case you have to surrender your Indian passport and renounce Indian Citizenship.

Coming back to your original question, as per the VFS website UK "The visa application form must be duly signed and dated by the applicant. In case of minor either of the parents can sign on the applicant's behalf".

Also the following from VFS Website UK:-

In case of visa application for a child (minor) less than 16 years of age, submitted with or without both the parents' applications, following additional documentation is required:

a. Consent letter signed by both the parents, even if mother or father is travelling along with the child.

b. Photocopy of mother & father's passports along with the copy of their current Indian Visa if already holding one.

c. A copy of the child's full length birth certificate.

Pay special attension to "b".

Good luck.

[ranadip]

Hi visjig,

Thank you for your reply, I did not find the line mentioning that "either parent can sign the form" in places where I looked. Thank you for pointing that out.

As for your doubts, there are clauses in the British nationality laws that allow one certain benefits of British citizenship under certain circumstances. In other words, they have (nearly) same rights as British citizens under British jurisdiction while outside, they are citizens of the country of which they hold a passport. We will find others as well if we stare hard at the nationality laws.