Marriage: Indian/American and Visas

I will try to keep this simple .... I am American my husband is Indian .. we are going through his US citizenship. My question is, has anyone ever heard of some type of 15 year Indian visa I can get since I am married to an Indian. My other question is when he gets his US citizenship what is is status NRI or PIO, something else? Can he get the same visa? It is very expense and we don't know how many times we will be able to travel so a regular visa may be best. But I am thinking in "worst case senario" if something should happen with his parents then I can leave right away and not have to wait for a visa. I went onto the Indian Embassy website and I only found a sliver of info so PLEASE direct me to a website! Thank you!

I think your longest available visa is for 10 years; they are noted on the India Consulate - San Francisco website.

When your husband gets his US citizenship, he will be neither a (recognized) PIO nor a NRI. He will automatically lose his Indian citizenship (as India does not allow dual citizenship) and thus his status as an NRI. (NOTE: This could change very soon, so keep an eye on this issue. A revision of this policy is in the works.) He can, however, become an official PIO by purchasing a PIO card for $310 US, which will restore most of the rights he enjoyed as an NRI for a period of 15 years(including traveling to India without a visa). His circumstances will dictate whether getting a PIO card card will be the best choice, or whether a ten-year visa will be just as good for his purposes.
The ten-year visa will allow just as much room for pick-up-and-go, spontaneous travel to India at a lower cost as long as each stay in India is not over 180 days. (YOU, as a non-PIO American have to abide by the visa rules anyway, so that's something to consider. Your husband's status as PIO or not PIO doesn't change YOUR status.)

The primary advantages of the PIO card are:
1.) If he wants to stay longer than 180 days at a time in India, he can (after registering with a Foreigners Regional Registration Officer in Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, or Chennai).
2.) He can buy property in India! (search other threads in this forum to see others salivating over this opportunity).
3.) It's 15 years instead of 10 (but it costs over 2.5 times what a 10-year visa does, and he has to renew his passport every 10 years anway, right?)
4.) If India does adopt dual citizenship, but only grants it to PIO card holders, the PIO card suddenly becomes a much better deal!

The Indian embassy in DC provides the best info I've seen on PIO cards, at: www.indianembassy.org/policy/PIO/Introduction_PIO.html

my husband is also indian, but now US citizen, we both just got 10 yr. visa's from Indian consulate in NY via mail. we leave on Thursday, it will be my husbands first time back to ndia as an American citizen, he is a little sad!

rickshawwallah-any advice for me?
i am not sure what to do now. i saw the website that said the pio card application had a $310 fee but i also saw one that said it has a $570 fee (not the 20 year one, that was 1000, but a later one)...
also, i am now in india. i want to do this by mail, but is it a better idea to mail it to the embassy in america or the embassy in india? i read that you can apply here if you are here on an extended (over 180 days) stay, but how do i get permission to be on an extended stay?

the more i read the rules the less i understand...one place it says you have to register within 14 days of your arrival if you are on an extended stay, but on my passport it says i dont have to register unless i am staying past 180 days without specifying when to do it. a pio doesnt have to register except within 30 days of the expiration of the 180 days.

also, i thought the dual citizenship was a done deal-that it was signed december 22. if that is so, it will be a simple matter for any ex-indian citizens to get back their citizenship if they have become american citizens, wont it?

I will confirm this on Monday (5th Jan) and post back here as I will be visiting the FRRO.

You can apply for a PIO. I have an Indian colleague who is married to a US citizen. She recently applied for and was granted a 15 year PIO. I was closely following up on the entire process (while in Hong Kong) for them so you can take my word on this.

Please contact any Indian consulate and ask to meet with any immigration official. Tell them that you plan to relocate to India with your husband.

You can also apply for the 10 year tourist visa which is only available to US citizens but I do recommend applying for the PIO as in the long run it would be much more useful. The 10 year tourist visa is due to be scrapped in the next 12 months.

Good Luck
Bill

I just got my PIO card three weeks ago in NY, and i am also a US citizen married to an Indian man. We live in India.

I wanted the PIO card to legitimise my residing, and particularly working in India, and to be able to forget about the 180-day maximum stay restriction that visas have. The PIO card looks like a grey passport, and functions like a visa when you enter the country, ie you have to carry a passport too. I'll still have to register if stay will exceed 180 days (no problem), and cannot vote, but can work, buy property, etc. If you don't intend to stay over 180- days on any one visit, then a 10-year visa might be just as good.

The PIO card cost me $310 cash. I had to show originals of proof of spouse' or ancestors citizenship (I took my husband's passport) and marriage certificate. I had to hand over photocopies of the original items, 4 photos, and the form in duplicate. Check the "Consulate of India" websites, or get a form in the consulate.

A couple of years ago I had enquired about PIO in the NY consulate but I didn't have my husband's passport with me so they advised me to return to India on another tourist visa and do it in Delhi. But the Delhi Home Ministry wouldn't recognise our US marriage certificate and wanted an Indian one, and it looked like it would take months.

This time it took under a week in NYC, and the consulate telephoned me (!) to tell me it was ready. For visas, (not PIO card), in NYC, if a US citizen walks into the Indian consulate in the morning with everything in hand (get there before 9am), you can pick up your visa in the afternoon, same day.

I guess dual citizenship will eventually become functional, but I hope it wouldn't then make me require visas to visit other countries? And, I'm curious to visit Pakistan once before I become an Indian citizen, because Indians can't really travel there easily.