ILR + Indian citizenship or British Citrizenship

osteophytes · Post by **osteophytes** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 1:35 am

Imm.I.Grate wrote:
InUkOnHsmp wrote:Hi Forurm,

I will be qualifying for ILR in the UK very soon, and subsequently will be eligible to apply for British citizenship.

Now I am in a huge dilemma about whether I should just continue with my ILR status, or register as a British citizen.

Here are some key facts about my situation:

1) I may have to return to India right after taking citizenship, because of some personal circumstances.
2) I have a child, who I can register as a British citizen as soon as I get ILR.

Now I have been reading various posts on the forum on this, and here is my list of pros and cons:

British citizenship:

Pros:
1) Developed country, benefits and living conditions.
2) Better paid jobs, more exciting career opportunities
3) Access to the EU for education ( for my child), and for travel (for all of us)
4) If I do need to go back to India, that does not affect my ability to come back as and when I want.

Cons:
1) Me and my family will need a visa to visit India, as I am planning to go back for a long time after taking citizenship.
2) Issues arising out of not being a Indian citizen, but living in India. For people with kids,I have heard the major problem is the education cost and opportunity, as the kids have a foreigner status in India. I wonder if this rules out studying in premier colleges like the IITs etc.

ILR + Indian citizenship:

Pros:

1. All my family remains Indian Citizens, so have the same education and other opportunities in India as any Indian citizen.

Cons:

1) Will need to come back to the UK every 2 years, for ILR to remain valid. Not sure how things will work with the home office if I do this a couple of times, might affect my ILR?
2) No recourse to public funds at any point in my stay in the UK, so no benefits of any kind from the state.
3) If we ever go for education in the UK, the costs are way higher for non-EU nationals than for UK citizens.
4) No access to education/travel opportunities in the rest of the EU.

Could I call upon experienced members to guide me about the various aspects of this situation? I am sure I can take the right decision with the forums guidance.

Regards
This is the mother of all Hypothetical questions. My advise is take your BC and live in India on OCI. If your kids are high achievers and knocking on the doors of IIT or AIIMS then renounce BC and get Indian citizenship for them. The question of 18 yrs or younger ia a moot issue and is not a major problem. 17 years would be the typical university entering age in India and so they might lose one year then if they have to wait until 18. On the other hand, if you keep your Indian Citizenship and not take your BC then you are never going to get it again. On any day I would chose BC (with the option of getting your kids educated in any part of EEA) than worrying about them losing one year in the future.

If you are going to keep Indian Citizenship for other reaons that is a differnet issue. Not taking BC becuase of childrens' education in the future is not a wise thing to do in my opinion.

I agree

badbug27 · Post by **badbug27** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 10:47 am

I was having similar thoughts as the original poster. I have slightly different question. If you already have proof of address for whole family in India, ration card, birth cert etc, do you actually need to show passport for any entrance exam or admission? I don't think I had to when I studied there. So NRI quuota actually becomes a nice option and not a restriction. This is of course my view on current situation which may change in future (I.e. they may start asking for passports?).

push · Post by **push** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 10:02 pm

You seem to be confusing between NRI and being a foreigner in India. NRI is not an immigration/citizenship status. It is an economic term (used for tax purposes). An NRI is a person who holds an Indian Passport but is not usually resident in India. If you live in India on a British Passport using an OCI, you will be a foreign national and not an NRI!!

However, in some cases OCI hilders are granted same economic benefits as are available to the NRIs. Benefits of OCI Read the section on employment and parity with NRIs.

Imm.I.Grate · Post by **Imm.I.Grate** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:45 pm

badbug27 wrote:I was having similar thoughts as the original poster. I have slightly different question. If you already have proof of address for whole family in India, ration card, birth cert etc, do you actually need to show passport for any entrance exam or admission? I don't think I had to when I studied there. So NRI quuota actually becomes a nice option and not a restriction. This is of course my view on current situation which may change in future (I.e. they may start asking for passports?).

Aren't you people breaking the future intention rule? I know UKBA can not do anything about you now, but your obvious "I don't care now" attitude to that rule and discussion in open forums might be detrimental to future applicants. Please discuss these issues in the forum where it belongs (OCI, PIO etc). Not in British Citizenship forum.

badbug27 · Post by **badbug27** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:54 pm

Imm.I.Grate wrote:
badbug27 wrote:I was having similar thoughts as the original poster. I have slightly different question. If you already have proof of address for whole family in India, ration card, birth cert etc, do you actually need to show passport for any entrance exam or admission? I don't think I had to when I studied there. So NRI quuota actually becomes a nice option and not a restriction. This is of course my view on current situation which may change in future (I.e. they may start asking for passports?).
Aren't you people breaking the future intention rule? I know UKBA can not do anything about you now, but your obvious "I don't care now" attitude to that rule and discussion in open forums might be detrimental to future applicants. Please discuss these issues in the forum where it belongs (OCI, PIO etc). Not in British Citizenship forum.

That is not necessarily true. You could be a consultant (or have a business) who can be economically active in more than one country at the same time and that could be quite beneficial to UK (bringing foreign investment or income) as well. But there may be a number of options that one may be considering at any given point in time (in this case children's education). This is just one of them. So as far as I'm concerned, this is not breaking any rules.

Imm.I.Grate · Post by **Imm.I.Grate** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 12:01 am

badbug27 wrote:
Imm.I.Grate wrote:
badbug27 wrote:I was having similar thoughts as the original poster. I have slightly different question. If you already have proof of address for whole family in India, ration card, birth cert etc, do you actually need to show passport for any entrance exam or admission? I don't think I had to when I studied there. So NRI quuota actually becomes a nice option and not a restriction. This is of course my view on current situation which may change in future (I.e. they may start asking for passports?).
Aren't you people breaking the future intention rule? I know UKBA can not do anything about you now, but your obvious "I don't care now" attitude to that rule and discussion in open forums might be detrimental to future applicants. Please discuss these issues in the forum where it belongs (OCI, PIO etc). Not in British Citizenship forum.
That is not necessarily true. You could be a consultant (or have a business) who can be economically active in more than one country at the same time and that could be quite beneficial to UK (bringing foreign investment or income) as well. But there may be a number of options that one may be considering at any given point in time (in this case children's education). This is just one of them. So as far as I'm concerned, this is not breaking any rules.

I have to disagree. I think you are a little confused. I am not talking about people taking BC and moving in and out of country. Here one of the options being considered by some of the posters is to take BC and then go to India and live there long term. Otherwise why would the question of Children's education be raised? Either way, this is not the forum to discuss about OCI, PIO etc

rlpkamath · Post by **rlpkamath** » Sat Apr 14, 2012 9:46 am

This is a somewhat related question re: OCI/ PIO status. The British government is quite clear that for dual nationals (Britain + some other country), no consular assistance is available to the British national when he/she is in the country where he also holds nationality. If I have that right, does either OCI or PIO status count as having Indian nationality? Thus does one lose access to British consular assistance in India? Apologies if this question is a bit off the charts.

Jambo · Post by **Jambo** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 10:44 pm

rlpkamath wrote:This is a somewhat related question re: OCI/ PIO status. The British government is quite clear that for dual nationals (Britain + some other country), no consular assistance is available to the British national when he/she is in the country where he also holds nationality. If I have that right, does either OCI or PIO status count as having Indian nationality? Thus does one lose access to British consular assistance in India? Apologies if this question is a bit off the charts.

See Information: UK clarifies 'Overseas Citizen of India.

karupalli · Post by **karupalli** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:03 pm

Interesting discussion.

I feel it is better take BC + OCI and not bothered about engineering seats in India.
By Taking BC, You can send child to UK for further studies (after 12). Anyway there are hundreds of engineers in India now. What is the point of one more engineer? But if he can do engineering in UK, that will be a great value add. If you think about it, it is not too difficult like IIT or IIM.

Doctor courses are any way too difficult to get into (even In India).

Small Note who want to send children to UK for education (They have to pay international student fees):

University
3 Year Residency Rule

In order to obtain "Home Fee" tuition at a university a British Citizen returning from abroad has to have been resident in the UK or an EU country for three years prior to the start of their course. Also they may may not be resident in the UK or EU wholly or mainly for the purposes of receiving full-time university education at the home rate during any part of the three-year period. It's something that you will need to consider if you are returning to the UK with teenagers who intend to go to university. The simple fact of being British does not qualify a student for the home tuition fee.

geriatrix · Post by **geriatrix** » Mon May 14, 2012 1:17 pm

mkanagar wrote:I think its always a benefit for one of the partner to stay on indian citizenship. is it right?

diago_nelson · Post by **diago_nelson** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 10:56 pm

I don't think it is beneficial. Can you please give your reasons ?
The child's citizenship is most important in such case and if the child (under 18yrs) cannot renounce BC and gain Indian citizenship. then whats the point in one partner staying on Indian citizenship ?

One will have to probably pay NRI quota fees anyways.
(there is a post above which says this is not the case though, so not sure)

sushdmehta wrote:
mkanagar wrote:I think its always a benefit for one of the partner to stay on indian citizenship. is it right?

gaurav76.5 · Post by **gaurav76.5** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 11:17 am

not able to understand why would you need to pay NRI fees.. As long as you can clear the competitive exams you can get a set..You are never asked to submit passport or disclose your nationality to gain entry into any college in India..

pennylessinindia · Post by **pennylessinindia** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 2:49 pm

sushdmehta wrote:
mkanagar wrote:I think its always a benefit for one of the partner to stay on indian citizenship. is it right?

Funny why the OP was thinking of not getting his wife BC, perhaps she should be given a choice!

Just re read all this as there was another post on the same topic recently. OH has Indian Citizenship and will apply for Brit one as soon as possible, there is not benefit to keeping Indian and lots more to gain by having UK one

gaurav76.5 · Post by **gaurav76.5** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 2:51 pm

yes absolutely....I am going to do the same....regd education which is the main concern there is no need of proving your nationality in India..as long as you have done your primary education from there..

Guest199 · Post by **Guest199** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 10:56 am

I am on ILR (under 10 years)
Wife and 2 Kids:- FLR(M) 2 years dependent visa
Wife's only:- on ILR (once she got Flr(m) she applied for ILR and got it)

But kids are on FLR(M) 2 years dependent visa on Indian Passport.
now I was planning to apply my kids for MN1 (registration) because they both born in UK. but they are travelling to india urgent due to wife's medical for more than 8 months.

So my questions are as follows:

1) If Home Office approves MN1 and give registration , and kids are not in UK but in India when got registration as BC, still the visa FLR(M) dependant and Indian Passport is valid for them to travel to UK or passport & visa is invalid because they got approval of MN1 in UK.

2) Is there any rule/condition that kids should apply for British passport within three months after getting registration as BC.?

3) Once kids got registered as BC if they come after 1 year from India on Indian passport can they apply for BP in UK.

4) if they travell on india passport after having BC, will Indian high commision will charge penalties or any serious misconduct.

5) If I apply from India BP how easy it is and what documents I need please explain in detials.

6) or to avoid too much confusion I should apply for MN1 as BC after they visited to India 8 months.

Please suggest me what is the best option for me.

thanks

chandni131313 · Post by **chandni131313** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 8:34 am

hi there, you can have a dual nationality! so you can be an Indian citizen as well as British.

InUkOnHsmp · Post by **InUkOnHsmp** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 11:08 pm

Hi Chandni131313,

Can you post any links supporting your claim? It is a well known fact that the Indian constitution does not allow dual citizenship.

Regards

Immigrationboards.com: Immigration, work visa and work permit discussion board

ILR + Indian citizenship or British Citrizenship

Re: ILR + Indian citizenship or British Citrizenship

OCI

Applying for Kids british passports while not in UK.

Re: ILR + Indian citizenship or British Citrizenship

Re: ILR + Indian citizenship or British Citrizenship