INFO-Dual Citizenship for children under 18

[nsrisri]

Dear All
children under 18 can have dual Citizenship means they can hold British and Indian passport

[Jambo]

Only if they are dual national from birth and they don't exercise their British nationality which means that they can hold the two citizenships but not the two passports (only the Indian). See more in Are you a minor, Indian by descent and also foreign citizen?

[ban.s]

also see similar discussion - child born to UK citizen, Indian passport

[nsrisri]

Hi Jumbo
I dint understand that
My daughter was born in UK and went to India with Indian passport. After I got my ILR, I applied for my daughter's registration as a British and with that certificate I applied British passport from India as my daughter is in India.
I was told when I contacted FRRO office in India that my daughter can keep both the passport until she is 18 and she need to carry both the passport when she travel between India and UK
If we are keeping both the passports then I don't know process for passport renewal.

I hope this is correct.Please advise

[Jambo]

I'm not very familiar with Indian nationality laws. A better place to ask is Other countries section of the forums.

AFAIK, once the registration application for BC has been approved, your child has ceased to be an Indian citizen and is required to surrender her passport. I'm not familiar with how this is done.

[nsrisri]

Hi Jumbo
I also thought to surrender my child passport after get her british passport.But when I contacted FRRO office in India they said that my daughter can keep botht he passports until 18.This is totally surprise news for me.She can go to India and live with Indian passport and travel to UK or any other country with British passport.This Information I got from FRRO office in Hyderabad.Hope this is correct

[ban.s]

Your daughter can't retain Indian passport anymore.

where is your daughter now? In India or UK?

has she got any UK leave to remain in her in Indian passport?

[nsrisri]

Hi Ban s
She was born in UK and went to India on Indian passport and came to UK on visiting visa .She left to India after applying for registration .After I got the registration certificate I applied for British passport in India as she is in India.
when I contacted FRRO office, Hyderabad in India they said that my daughter can keep both the passports until 18 and can travel to UK with British passport with out surrendering Indian passport and use Indian passport when travelling to India and to other countries can use British passport.

[ban.s]

can you confirm where is your daughter now, as it's not quite clear from your previous message? is she still in India or returned to UK?

Mods - can you move this thread to Other Countries?

[nsrisri]

My daughter is in India

[ban.s]

the information you received from FRRO is not correct. India don't recognise dual citizenship, so your daughter can't hold two passports. There is however provision for a minor, who acquired foreign citizenship by birth, to obtain Indian passport as long as s/he hasn't excercised the foreign nationality and obtained overseas passport.

As your daughter is currenty in India and has applied for British Passport, so now, you need to surrender the passport in India and apply for exit permit at FRRO, otherwise there will be difficulty to leave India.

also see similar discussion here

[nsrisri]

Hi Ban.s
I also thought like that only and one of this forum member also gone this process.But when I enquired twice about this information one time is at Hyderabad airport FRRO and another time is FRRO in Hyderabad both the times was told same as minors can keep the 2 passports and no need to handover the Indian passport and also no exist permit is required.

Do you know any other way to find out the correct information to make sure what I am doing is correct

[ban.s]

Do you know any other way to find out the correct information to make sure what I am doing is correct

what are you planning to do?

[nsrisri]

Just waiting for passport by end of this month and go to FRRO office in Hyderabad and find out exactly the process

[ban.s]

that's the right option. if they still mention that the child can hold two passports, then ask for written confirmation / reference.

[nsrisri]

I am not sure they give written confirmation.But I believe it could be correct as even Airport FRRO also said same thing
I will update here when I get the correct information

[ban.s]

yes, do post your actual experience especially if you were able to bring your child in the UK without surrendering her indian passport/exit permit.

[kvindia]

nsrisri,

Can you please advise what is ths current situation of your child passport? Is India accepting dual citizenship for the children under 18?

[ukcitizen13]

Hello Nsrisri,

Could you please advise if you have any update on this ?

[nsrisri]

Still I haven't got correct information.But we can keep Indian passport as well but I am not sure whether we can travel with Indian passport or not.
My daughter is still in India .I can confirm after she come back to UK.

[vrp]

Just to add to this I called the Bangalore FRRO today wishing to know the procedure to apply for OCI for my two sons. I got similar advice. My situation is:

Son 1 was born in the UK in 2010 and travelled to India in 2011 on an Indian passport issued by the Consulate General in Edinburgh. We applied for a British passport from the High Commission in Delhi for him in January and received it today.

Son 2 was born in Bangalore in December 2012 and we applied for a British passport for him in January (both applications were sent off together), which we are still awaiting.

The FRRO official told me that for Son 2 the procedure is to apply for a visa and then OCI, which is what I expected from reading around various fora.

For Son 1 he said one option was to surrender the Indian passport, apply for a visa to remain in India and then for OCI. However, he instead recommended keeping both the Indian passport and the British passport until my son was 18. He couldn't apply for OCI unless he surrendered his Indian passport though.

This was totally unexpected as I was aware that my son was considered a dual citizen until 18 (at which point he would have to renounce his British citizenship to retain his Indian citizenship) but wasn't aware that the Indian government allowed holding travel documents from another country whilst retaining an Indian passport. The snag is that his Indian passport will expire in 2015 and I'm not clear that we could renew it as the form asks for a declaration that a travel document of another country has not been obtained.

So, to avoid any future unforeseen issues I'm probably going to go with the first option (surrender Indian passport) but I'll be travelling to the FRRO soon to clarify.

[ukcitizen13]

Hello vrp,
Thanks for the update.
I am also in same boat. My son got both Indian and British passport.
We are expecting India travel soon so I have to return his Indian passport but I would be very happy if I can keep both as we may go back to India and then being on British passport will have other issues especially for studies.

Could you please share the information on this as soon as you get the clarity about this ?

[vrp]

OK. Went to the Bangalore FRRO in person today. The Duty Officer there confirmed that my son can retain both his British and Indian passports until he is 18. I told him that the Indian passport will expire in 2015 and he won't be 18 until 2028. He said it would be up to the passport office whether they would renew it when it expires. I told him that the passport renewal form specifically requires signing a declaration that he has not voluntarily acquired the citizenship (no, since he was a British citizen by birth) or travel document of another country (yes). He told me that we would have to declare his British passport to the regional passport office when renewing and it would be up to them whether they would renew his Indian passport. I told him that we don't want the uncertainty of perhaps not having his passport renewed in two years and him having to leave the country at very short notice as he would no longer have leave to remain in India, so I enquired about how to surrender his Indian passport. He told me to contact the passport office and once I've got a surrender certificate from them to return for a dependent X visa and then after I've got that for an OCI.

I went to the regional passport office to ask whether we could renew his passport in two years or alternatively the procedure to surrender it in Bangalore but having reached there at 11am it was clear after I'd sat there for 30-40 minutes that the pace of the line meant that I would not get to the desk before 4 or 5 pm. I'll see if I can return early another day. If I do I'll post more info. However, I'm now clear that my son can keep his passport for at least the entire term of its current validity so I'm thinking of returning to the UK next year, surrendering it to the consulate there (I think they do it in about 2 days) and applying for an OCI (hopefully no more than 6-8 weeks) before returning to India with him.

[visaforv10]

Son 1 was born in the UK in 2010 and travelled to India in 2011 on an Indian passport issued by the Consulate General in Edinburgh. We applied for a British passport from the High Commission in Delhi for him in January and received it today.

vrp,

If you don't mind asking me
What was your visa status at the time when your son 1 was born? Was your ILR done before that?

[vrp]

British citizen with OCI. My wife has ILR.