Visa for non-indian spouse - Confusing info

badboy

Hello,

I am really glad that I finally found an informative forum to discuss the visa related issues for non-indians in India. Gosh the embassy websites don't give many details. I guess they simply assume that no foreigner would want to live in India while the president of the ruling party is an Italian. I wonder what visa she was on until she got the Indian passport

Okay, enough of ranting and raving. Here is the deal... I am an Indian returning home in March after 8 years abroad. My girlfriend is from Austria. She will travel to India on tourist visa to get married. Then we leave for Austria in April to get married again (whoo hoo, I am marrying the same girl twice ) before returning to India to settle down. The Indian embassy in Singapore told us to get a tourist visa to India and then go to FRO to get a long term visa. But, in another thread it is said that the FRO officials advised an IMer to go back to her own country to get the long term visa. visa extension on grounds of marriage, anyone?

Kinda confused.... anyone been through this and have an idea?

Thanks a bunch.

GoanCanuck

Your girlfriend will have to leave India after her tourist visa expires and apply for a fresh visa. The tourist visa can not be converted into a different category visa. After 1 year of marriage your wife will be eligible for a PIO card which will enable her to saty in India on a long term basis.

badboy

Thanks for the info. Appreciate it!!!

Nick-H

Conflicting info.....

Your wife will be able to apply to have her Tourist Visa converted to a longer-term entry visa*.

This was confirmed recently to someone I know by email from Ministry of Home Affairs that, as a foreigner married to an Indian she is entitled.

I have also been advised by a visa professional (I guess there are less polite words beginning and ending in 't', especially considering the large amount of money I am paying...) that I (also married to Indian citizen) am entitled to such conversion.

Proof of pudding is in the eating: I hope to be able to post more conclusively and positively within the next two or three weeks!

*this will probably require registering your marriage in India, thus obtaining marriage certificate. I you want your registry office [legal rather than religious] marriage to be in Austria the it may not be so simple.

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Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

anamon

Am/was in same situation..she will have to go back home. If you happen to go to FFRO and ask them for visa change and they tell you to go to Home Ministry Affairs in Delhi you just forget about it its a waste of time and money as they will politely tell you that visa change will be done only in the residence country aka in your case Austria! You will have to wait to complete one year of marriage and then go apply for a PIO card. Now dual citizenship is possible but for this you will have to approach an FRRO office and get your info as at the time I have done my PIO they didnt have much details. Dual citizenship might work faster than getting the PIO card so worth looking into it!

Finndian

What are you talking about? I am married to an Indian and we did not need to be married for a year in order to get my PIO card. We had been married at the time just for 6 months when I got it. And this was just two years ago. Have the rules changed or is it just different in different parts of the world?

Nick-H

Finndian.... very useful info. Can you tell us where you applied, and what your experience was please?

As to my man, aformentioned, well, so far I find him to be good at talking .

Welcome to IndiaMike.com!

malvin

the marriage certificate from india confirmed by the austrian embassy in delhi is very much valid in austria.
in general austria doesn`t allow the dual nationality.PIO card will be the best option in your case.
malvin

shere

When attesting such documents do you need to get a stamp from the Indian Government to confirm the document is authentic ?

I recently had to get a few UK birth certificates authenticated by the Legalisation Section of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London and only then would the Indian High Commission put their stamp on them, so they could be used in India.

I was under the impression that certificates from India had to authenticated by the Consular Section of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Patiala House, New Delhi and then you could get them legalised by your respective embassy in India.

Nick-H

But it is an official government document; why would one need to get another document to say so?

Oh. Oh yes, this is India......

I dread ever having to satisfy any official in UK that my, hand-typed Indian Marriage certificate is actually real! It certainly does not look it.

shere

Yup its hard to satisfy those UK public sector manadarins like the brian dead immigrations officers at the British High Commission in Delhi.

I know someone who needed to show proof of income so as most people would do they used payslips covering a few months along with a letter form their employer. They were rejected because "they were the type you could buy from a stationary shop" and the letter had grammer errors. I guess stationary shops only sell these so people can sit at home messing about on a computer to fake wageslips no actual employer uses formatted wageslips purchased from a stationary shop. The letter has been checked by a solicitor and she could find no grammer errors.

Now this is going to appeal so money will be spent on lawyers and at the tribunal they will find against the actions of the immigration officer. So because of some idiot immigration officer someone has to fork out £1k in legal fees. In such cases the stupid immigration officer should be surcharged for the costs. If they were many of them would end up owing the British taxpayer hundreds of thousands of pounds each year as they are so incompetant when it comes to making reasonable decisions.

Thats my rant of the day over.

Nick-H

This time we gambled... we bought Mrs N's flight ticket. Now to get the visa... ... ... ... ... ...

Finndian

Nick-H and others,

Ok, here's our story and how things went with us. I am Finnish, surprise surprise and my husband is Indian. We got married a little over two years ago in India. The wedding was a mix of hindu traditions and of western ones, but in order to officially legalize our marriage we had it first registered under the Special Marriage Act in India (a big hassle, lots of paperwork etc). In order to register our marriage also in Finland, we had to send the marriage certificate along with some other papers to the Finnish Embassy in Delhi as well as the Ministery of Foreign Affairs, both of which added their own stamps and verified the documents. Through the Finnish embassy, the Finnish authorities got the info of our marriage and the marriage was registered in Finland as well. After the wedding, I returned to Finland for a while to finish my studies and during this time I applied for a PIO card as I was to return to India later to live with my husband. For the PIO card, I needed to give the marriage certificate (along with all the stamps gotten earlier, without the stamps, the piece of paper would have been worthless), a copy of my husband's passport, my passport and the application form itself along with 4 photos. Of course I also had to pay the fee for the PIO card. At first, the Indian Embassy in Finland tried to offer me a long-term visa (a bit cheaper), but we had decided to take the PIO card cos of its added benefits (I can work in India without a separate work permit etc). Nowhere was it mentioned that we should have been married for a year in order to apply for the PIO card. There was absolutely no problem of getting the PIO card after 6 months of being married. Now I am glad that I did take the PIO card instead of the long-term visa as I will start working here shortly. At least now there won't be another hassle with the work permit and things should run smoothly.

I wish you the best of luck! It takes a lot of patience to deal with Indian authorities, but at the end of it all, things will work out...

rcopple

Wow this is very useful information. I had no idea I could get a PIO card. I am American and my wife is Indian. We have been legally married for a year now. We had to petition the courts to get our marriage registered in AP.

Can anyone explain to me how I go about getting my PIO. Do I just need to submit an application to the FRO, or does it need to be submitted to the MEA in Dehli.

What benefits do you get having the PIO status?

Thanks,

Robert

GoanCanuck

You have to submit the application to the Indian embassy in your home country. The FRO can not issue a PIO card. The main benefits are that you can stay for long periods in India and you can buy property with the exception of agricultural land.