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I've obtained U.S. citizenship after previously being an Indian citizen since birth. Now, say that I want to apply for a brief 6-month tourist visa for India after my naturalization. (Yes, I know about the PIO and OCI schemes, but this question is specifically for applying for a visa.)

For applying for an Indian visa, I'm directed to http://indianvisaonline.gov.in to complete the online visa form. However, I am confused as to what to enter in a specific question.

On the third page, where I am asked what visa I want to apply for, there is a question that asks if I have ever visited India before. When I choose "Yes", I am asked to enter the details of my previous visa. However, I have never had an Indian visa before and have last entered India with my Indian passport (because I was an Indian citizen).

The fields for entering the previous visa details are mandatory, yet I have nothing to fill in them. What should I do?

gparyani
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1 Answers1

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Your mileage may vary, and it certainly is a grey zone, but I'd just tick "No".

  1. Since you were an Indian citizen, you've technically never visited India before, you've only been a resident there.
  2. The visa application is asking whether Mr Damryfbfnetsi, citizen of the USA, has ever visited India before. Since you have not visited as an American, the answer is "No".

Update: The visa application form also asks if your current citizenship (in your case USA) was by birth or naturalization, and if naturalization, what your previous citizenship was. You can and should truthfully answer "India" here, which will hopefully make the situation clear enough.

The visa application form also asks for your place of birth, which (presumably) will be in India as well, but since you've already declared your past citizenship this is unlikely to be a problem.

CGCampbell
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lambshaanxy
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