US Born child Indian passport or US passport?

[mkakani]

We are in the US since 2.5 years on an assignment from India. Both of us are Indian citizens and would be returning back to India after 3-4 months or we may stay in US for 1 or 2 years more.

We are expecting a baby by end of Sept 2010 and are in a dilemma whether to apply for Indian passport or OCI card + US passport.considering the fact that the child will grow in India during the whole of his/her academic period.

I have gone through many threads and got some information about very low NRI quota, higher donations / fees during the initial school admissions etc for a US born child.

How would the fees/ donations affect for the below 2 options we have ?

Option 1 : Apply for an Indian passport, while in the US. The child would have birth certificate though and will have to surrender the Indian passport if he/she decides to travel to the US even for the first time in the future without a US visa. This would help the child to get into higher educations in India outside the NRI quota.

(Considering fact that I may come back to USA for future assignment, but I am not sure how I will manage at that time as I have to get US passport for my child renouncing Indian passport - but it will create issue while returning back to India)

Option 2 : Obtain a US passport. This makes the child an NRI and not sure how would this affect the child's education in India w.r.t NRI quota.

Please advise. I would really appreciate your help in this regard.

[zsarang]

Apply for Indian Passport

I would suggest to apply for Indian passport as you want his education in India. May be when he grows up he will never require to travel to USA.

And if you get a new assignment in USA than you have another challenge at that moment. Let time take care of these life challenges.

At this moment an Indian Passport is the best option for your child's education.

Take some more guidance from your parents, elders and senior colleagues befor making a good decision.

[iceontap]

A minor child of both indian passport holders is not normally given an OCI, maybe a PIO. I have not yet seen document to this effect, but anecdotal reports.

[Arani]

At any school/ college in India they ask for the Birth certificate of student. Since your child may be born in US then there is no document that you can get from the Indian Mission in US that can state that the child is not born in US. Thus, the child is going to be a US citizen by birth even if you get an Indian Passport or PIO card with US passport. If you are on a Diplomatic Visa on Govt. of India duty then your child can NOT be a US citizen, it will be an Indian citizen (its a rule applicable on all the diplomats). Though, if this is not the case then its going to be a US citizen and an NRI in India. The best bet though, not sure might be some US based schools in India. See how do they take US born kids?
With most of the schools (private/public, etc) conducting "mass education" in India, the NRI quota is pretty less. Though, if you know that you will be returning to India why don't you communicate with some school who has branches throughout India to wait-list your child for the admission into their school for whenever the child will be ready to go to school. And if you are transferred at different places in India where the same school has branches then all you have to do is to transfer him from one branch to another of the same school. Though, I am sure NRI fee structure is all in Dollars at quite a high value. Raising NRI kids is expensive, best bet would be to get a job abroad and play it safe. Let me know if you need further assistance in this.

good luck!

[cleverhan]

"Since your child may be born in US then there is no document that you can get from the Indian Mission in US that can state that the child is not born in US. Thus, the child is going to be a US citizen by birth even if you get an Indian Passport or PIO card with US passport. If you are on a Diplomatic Visa on Govt. of India duty then your child can NOT be a US citizen, it will be an Indian citizen (its a rule applicable on all the diplomats). "

Well, that is what the US law says. I doubt if this information is correct according to Indian citizenship rules. From what I have learned from various sources, the Indian passport should be sufficient to prove child's Indian citizenship.

[another_indian_in_us]

Hello All,
I am in a similar situation like mkakani and seeking inputs to take decision; I have one more parameter also to think about: we have only 6 weeks time between the delivery due date and last day of my visa validity. I am putting down my thoughts and questions below for mkakani's options, please revert back with your suggestions.

Option 1: Apply for an Indian Passport, while in the US.
(a) How long will it take for us to receive Indian Passport once the baby is born?
(b) While returning to India, should the baby's Indian Passport be stamped with some visa (US or the transit country's)? How can we get this done?
(c) If we have to travel to US in the next few years for similar job assignments, can we apply for dependent visa to US for the baby, rather than renouncing Indian Passport and applying US passport?
(d) From my understanding, even if the child is born in US and has the US Birth Certificate, if we take Indian Passport, he/she will be considered as Indian for all practical purposes in India; thus school education should be treated normal as other Indian born kids, and hence at same fees. We inquired at one multi-branch school in Chennai and Bangalore - and they don't consider kid's birth place for deciding school fees.

Option 2: Obtain a US passport.
(a) I understand that we cannot get an OCI card since me and my wife are Indian citizens. So, we will get PIO for the kid, which makes him eligible to stay for 15 years in India, with reporting to Police once in 180 days. What happens after 15 years? How can he continue to stay?
(b) In our case, we have time limitation for this option - Birth certificate, SSN, US passport would easily take 2 months is what I am hearing! Is this true?

Appreciate your responses/ view points.

Thanks and Regards,
AIIU.

[txh1b]

1.
a. 4 weeks
b. No. Depends on the transit country though.
c. No, US cannot stamp a visa for a US Citizen by birth even if they carry an Indian passport. You have to give up Indian PP and apply for a US PP abroad.
d. ok

2.
a. Not sure what happens after 15 yrs. There definitely will be options and that cannot be predicted at this time.
b. Not at all true. US passport hardly takes 7-10 days even though they say 3 weeks.