Wife & Child - India travel plans

[wpongal]

dear friends

my wife got her british naturalisation on 1st september 2016. she is in possession of her indian passport.
my daughter got her british passport recently.

q1) can my wife travel to india on 15th november on her indian passport and travel back to UK on 15th February 2017 with both british & indian passport?
q2) can i only apply for travel visa to my daughter with VFS?

surrendering wife passport and applying for tourist visa to both daughter and wife is an option but i am worried, the process may be time consuming?

many thanks
wpongal

[rmukherjee]

surrendering wife passport and applying for tourist visa to both daughter and wife is an option but i am worried, the process may be time consuming?

Surrendering your passport is the only legal option. It is not time consuming. It's a relatively simple form and takes a week max to get the certificate back, and just one visit to VFS. They'll courier the surrender certificate and cancelled passport back to you.

You can then apply for a e-Visa (TVOA) which is quite cheap and quick. If you don't have any immediate travel plans you can also apply for an OCI.

can my wife travel to india on 15th november on her indian passport and travel back to UK on 15th February 2017 with both british & indian passport?

This is not recommended (see other posts in the forum) - if you do this you're -- among other things -- at the mercy of the immigration officer in India who has full freedom to block you from leaving India. If you have an un-surrendered Indian passport the British govt cannot even intercede on your behalf.

You should also be aware that airlines share passport information for all flyers with governments under the APIS scheme.

q2) can i only apply for travel visa to my daughter with VFS?

I have done this because at that time the e-Visa scheme wasn't active, so yes, it's possible. You can also try for an e-Visa for her.

[rmukherjee]

can my wife travel to india on 15th november on her indian passport and travel back to UK on 15th February 2017 with both british & indian passport?

This post discusses in detail why this is a bad idea.

[wpongal]

dear rmukherjee

many thanks for the tips. I guess, my surrender appointment is this week.

the online visa is only applicable for 1 month travel. however, we wish to travel for more than 2 months. so, i guess the only option is to fix a tourist visa appointment once the surrender certificate turns up?

many thanks
wpongal

[rmukherjee]

many thanks for the tips. I guess, my surrender appointment is this week. the online visa is only applicable for 1 month travel. however, we wish to travel for more than 2 months. so, i guess the only option is to fix a tourist visa appointment once the surrender certificate turns up?

Yes, unfortunately the e-Visa is suitable for short trips only. You can get a tourist visa quite easily. I had to do this a few years ago when the e-Visa scheme was not yet ready. You do have to go to VFS once (with appointment) but they post/courier the passport with visa back quite quickly.