Taking US wife for visit to India

[christera22 8]

Hi ,

Coming back to this valued forum after a long time. I am a 10 yr green card holder here in us through marriage to my us wife. We are planning to go to india for a visit. I have a few queries as below :

a) my recently renewed passport does not have my wife`s name. Can it be added ?

b) We are about to make my wife`s US passport. Can my name be added there ?

c) What kind of indian visa should we apply for my wife ?

d) should we carry our marriage certificate while we travel ?

Thank you and I appreciate all answers ...

[Lynn n Sam 57]

Hi ,

Coming back to this valued forum after a long time. I am a 10 yr green card holder here in us through marriage to my us wife. We are planning to go to india for a visit. I have a few queries as below :

a) my recently renewed passport does not have my wife`s name. Can it be added ?

b) We are about to make my wife`s US passport. Can my name be added there ?

c) What kind of indian visa should we apply for my wife ?

d) should we carry our marriage certificate while we travel ?

Thank you and I appreciate all answers ...

My husband inquired about getting my name added to his passport, but was told he would have to get a new passport with my name included and it was going to take quite a bit of time. I don't know if this is the same rule all over India (as you well know you can get different answers from different officials in India ) You might want to go the PIO (Person of Indian Origin) route for the two of you, and that way a visa is unnecessary. You just carry the PIO card along with your US passport and travel to and from India freely. (there are certain other restrictions and you get more info here => http://www.in.ckgs.us/pio/pio-categories/new-pio-adult.shtml

As for your wife's US passport, a spouse's name isn't added to US passports.

Your wife should carry your marriage certificate while traveling with her passport so there isn't an issue going through customs or security checks.

[christera22 8]

Thank u so much for your prompt reply. I went through the link you gave me about PIO. It says :

"

1. Any person of Indian origin who holds a passport of Any other country (with certain exceptions) can apply for a PIO card if they fulfil the following condition.
2. Have held an Indian passport at any time

Well I am still an indian citizen. I hold an Indian passport and US permanent grenn card. If I am right neither me nor my wife ( US Citizen ) can get PIO ....any insight on the visa part ?

Thanks so much

[Lynn n Sam 57]

Ah yes, correct. Seeing as you are a green card holder and don't hold a US passport you're not eligible for the PIO unless you become a US citizen and then able to obtain a US passport. Sorry for the confusion. If your wife is a US citizen and holds a US passport, she can obtain a PIO card because she's married to an Indian citizen/passport holder. Otherwise she could probably apply for an Indian tourist visa. She can apply for certain time periods (like a 5 yr visa or a 10 yr visa, etc) but there's no guarantee as to what they'll issue. They decide once they receive the application. For example, if she submits fee for and applies for a 10 year visa, they may decide to only issue a 5 year and you do not receive a refund for the lesser time period that is issued (or they can deny altogether). Hope this helps. Good Luck

[sachin1 42]

Thank u so much for your prompt reply. I went through the link you gave me about PIO. It says :

"

1. Any person of Indian origin who holds a passport of Any other country (with certain exceptions) can apply for a PIO card if they fulfil the following condition.
2. Have held an Indian passport at any time

Well I am still an indian citizen. I hold an Indian passport and US permanent grenn card. If I am right neither me nor my wife ( US Citizen ) can get PIO ....any insight on the visa part ?

Thanks so much

Visa is pretty easy to get except you just have to face very very rude guys/girls at Indian embassy

do google search on indian consulate usa. go to appropriate site. go to visa section and fill out all required form.

there are few consulate, houston, chicago, ny, ca, atlanta etc...

Make sure you are on correct place.

[christera22 8]

Thanks to all , but which visa should I get for her? I know I dont need a visa being an Indian citizen and US green card holder but she does need one.

a) Would it be tourist visa ?

b) Where should i apply ? I found three websites :

http://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/

http://www.in.ckgs.us/

https://indiavisa.travisaoutsourcing.com/homepage

Thanks

[Super King 26]

http://www.in.ckgs.us/

My wife recently applied for tourist visa of 10 years duration and we got her visa just a week ago. Its very easy process. You can do the process via mail, you don't have to go in person. Your wife needs to get US passport 1st. Also if she applies for visa, she will have to apply for renunciation of Indian citizenship.

Good Luck!

Edited September 23, 2014 by Super King

[christera22 8]

http://www.in.ckgs.us/

My wife recently applied for tourist visa of 10 years duration and we got her visa just a week ago. Its very easy process. You can do the process via mail, you don't have to go in person. Your wife needs to get US passport 1st. Also if she applies for visa, she will have to apply for renunciation of Indian citizenship.

Good Luck!

Thank you super king. But what do you mean by "renunciation of Indian citizenship" ? my wife is the US citizen and was never an Indian citizen. I am the Indian citizen and US green card holder. Thanks

[Super King 26]

Thank you super king. But what do you mean by "renunciation of Indian citizenship" ? my wife is the US citizen and was never an Indian citizen. I am the Indian citizen and US green card holder. Thanks

My bad, I thought your wife was Indian citizen and acquired US citizenship. In that case, you only need to apply for tourist visa.

[sachin1 42]

Thanks to all , but which visa should I get for her? I know I dont need a visa being an Indian citizen and US green card holder but she does need one.

a) Would it be tourist visa ?

b) Where should i apply ? I found three websites :

http://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/

http://www.in.ckgs.us/

https://indiavisa.travisaoutsourcing.com/homepage

Thanks

Depending on which state you live you have to apply accordingly

for example texas we have office in houston and all they do is to outsource to company like CKGS.

trivisa was old oursource company.

that means you first located your indian embassy and connect to visa page from there.

[Nikita2Charles 31]

You have got some pretty good info already, but I just want to add my personal take on it.

I am American and my wife is Indian, I have a PIO due to marriage. The PIO route is better because for tourist visa you need to apply and you don't know for how long they will issue you the visa.

As a PIO, you don't have too much travel restrictions, you can fly there back and forth for as long and many time as you want.

[christera22 8]

Well Thank you so much for all your replies. I have decided to go ahead and get US citizenship. Now i have listed all the prices involved...

US citizenship - $680

Indian Passport renunciation - 190

US passport - 165

Then PIO /OCI for me ? and how much is the price ?

and PIO for my US wife ?

Thanks so much

[christera22 8]

So I googled and found out OCI for me ( Indian born just becoming US citizen) and PIO for my wife ( us citizen born in USA) . Now OCI fee is 295 and PIO is 385.

Now my question is can i just apply for tourist visa to india for both of us instead of PIO and OCI ?

tourist visa for 5 and 10 yrs is $171 and 6 months is $81 only , as per CKGS. WE are planning to cut off the cost for PIO & OCI and get tourist visa and get OCI and PIO later when we come back.

Thanks for all the help

[Kat&Abhi 42]

Instead of tourist visa your wife can also go for X visa (entry visa) but she can only do that while you have indian passport, I just got my X visa back today from ckgs and it took 2 weeks exactly from the date i shipped it to NYC to the date I received it back