Annexe-H Indian citizenship law confusion

[InUkOnHsmp]

Hi Forum,

This is in regard to http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... iew=Binary

Section 4 says:

4. Indian citizenship by descent

Birth outside India on or after 3 December 2004
4.3 Any child born outside India to an Indian parent on or after
3 December 2004 will continue to be eligible for Indian citizenship on the same basis as 4.1 & 4.2 above.

Which many people have been planning to use to work around the situation where the parents are British but they want children to still be Indian, as they need to settle in India and education costs are 5 times for foreign nationality students.

However section 5 goes on to mention:

5. Renunciation
5.1 If an adult makes a declaration of renunciation of Indian citizenship, any minor child of that person also loses Indian citizenship from the date of renunciation.

Now if I understand this right, when one gets British citizenship, they have to renounce their Indian one soon after, which will lead to their children losing Indian citizenship, will this not make the whole concept farcical?

I may be getting something wrong here.

Regards

[ban.s]

Your understanding is correct. I would use Indian Citizenship Act reference for Indian citizenship matter than using UKBA reference.

Section 5 of Annex H is actually section 8 (2) of Indian nationality act

If someone wishes their child to retain Indian passport then they should also retain their ILR status.

On a separate note and outside the remit of this forum - tuition fees in India are not always related to the passport. Even if someone possess Indian passport but the education institute may deem that child NRI and charge higher fees.

[InUkOnHsmp]

Thanks ban.s. This is really surprising though.

So this means if someone wants to go back and settle in India, and still have the option to come back to the UK later on in life, and also want their children to be Indian citizens with CoE of RoA in the UK, thats impossible?

The only options I see under these rules is:

1) The parents stay in the UK and remain Indian citizens for them to retain their ILR status. Kids become Indian citizens with CoE of RoA status, and can live wherever they want.
2) All become British and stay in the UK.
3) All become British and stay in India on OCI, cross the education fees bridge when you get to it.

There doesnt seem to be a practical way of doing anything other than this. Like what most of us want, one or both the parents become British, children remain Indian citizens with CoE of RoA, to not have education issues.

Regards

[ban.s]

Your understanding is correct. Citizenship renunciation is a choice and one should take a decision based on their circumstances and needs.

However contrary to the popular belief, mere possession of an indian passport doesn't necessarily guarantee a foreign born child's access to education at same fee level as residents. (If that's the sole purpose of retaining the Indian passport). Do enquire with specific education boards and institutes and find our their requirements.

[ric1982]

I think you are unnecessarily stressing out about higher education in India (considering fees for NRI and Indian C. are same for 99% of the schools in India).

The higher education is worthless. its all about memorizing the books without any practical implementation and tbh you get what you pay for. For e.g. IIT . People who graduates from IIT are very clever and will become rich but extremely Boring as for the peak time of their lives they havent done anything but study. I would think children who sells magazines and books on the street are more interesting to know then these geeks (street smarts).

On the other hand the schooling in these first world countries are horrible. Children lacks the foundation of their studies in Maths, Science and English.

[InUkOnHsmp]

Thanks for your inputs Ban.s and ric1982. These are exactly my thoughts, and thats why I went for BC for my kid. But now a friend of mine is quite hell-bent on going the CoE RoA route for his son, and thus all these questions came to mind.

However, the BC application is coming up for me and spouse, which is making us consider whether we should both become BC, or one of us should remain Indian with CoE RoA, is thats possible for us.

Couple of questions:

1) What does this mean for the one who retains Indian citizenship? How complicated would it be for him/her to come back to the UK, if we do decide to come back in our later years, for ourselves or for childrens education?

2) How will access to other countries in the EU work, and other countries where UK citizens get access to?

3) We might also be planning to setup a business back in India, I wonder how each option works in this context.

Any other pros and cons of both not taking BC, but having it mixed?

Thanks!

[ban.s]

However, the BC application is coming up for me and spouse, which is making us consider whether we should both become BC, or one of us should remain Indian with CoE RoA, is thats possible for us.

As an adult you don't have that option - as soon as you naturalise you lose your Indian citizenship and need to surrender your Indian pp.

Indian passport with CoE ROA is only applicable to child born british i.e. child born in the UK to parents with an ILR.