We recently had to go through this whole exercise and were surprised to find out that there are no resources on the net explaining some of the confusing aspects. Here is the process (This assumes that your's is a "normal" case - you and your spouse is Indian-born, Indian Citizens, holding Indian Passports, living in USA on H-1 or Green Card and this Passport and PIO card is for your new born baby).
Passport:
We thought that this is a very straight forward process and mostly it is, except for the passport photos. The USPS web site indicates that most of the post offices have facilities to make your passport photograph, but when we went to our local post office, they told us that they no longer offer this service for infants!. They said that it is because the pictures they take for infants are not coming out well. We went to CVS Pharmacy and got ours. So, it is a good idea to inquire ahead of time whether a certain place offers this service. The travel.gov web site has well-formatted list of required documentation. The fee can be paid at the post office itself. It is normally a good idea for both the parents to be present. The passport is processed pretty fast, you would get it back in a week or two in most cases.
PIO Card:
Now for the confusing one (or so it is made to be!!).
The PIO instructions on web site for Indian consulate in New York are confusing at best. The information is lacking organization and there is a phone number listed, that needs to be called - in restricted hours (between 2 and 4 PM) should you need any assistance. Don't count on it, when I called one day from 2PM, no one answered the phone, I hung on and kept calling till I received a message saying the message box is full :).
Anyway, here are the things we had to gather for our baby to apply for PIO card.
4 passport size photos.: Actually there is a total of 5 passport photos if what's on the instructions is to be followed. One to affix on page1 and 4 to be sent along with the application.
Thumb prints on the application form: (ink pads are avaialbe for about $3 at stationary stores such as OfficeMax). First, try the thumbprint on a separate paper (than the application itself), make sure the streaks on the thumb are visible and then put it on the application as the impressions tend to be no more than big dots if we put them on the application right away from the pad due to the tenderness of the skin of the baby. I have read elsewhere on the internet that they are taking the parent's signature in place of the baby's thumbprint when they go to the consulate in person. But there is nothing to that effect on the site and instructions, so if you are sending the application in mail, the thumbprints will be needed.
"Notarized" copies of passports of the baby, mother and father (expired ones too). Typically, there would be more than 50 sheets to notarize if you copy two pages of passport on a single sheet of paper. I copied 6 sheets of passport on one sheet (8.5 X 14), and only got notarized those pages where there is any information at all (like immigration stamps, visas etc). Your bank managers will be able to do the notarization for you.
Copy of the birth certificate. Notaries DO NOT notarize birth certificates in the US and there is nothing like a "copy" of birth certificate.You have to obtain a new birth certificate and send it over. The Consulate does not return this document (too bad - as we had to spend $21 in Ohio to get a new birth certificate copy) - as opposed to the US Passport application, where every original document you submitted will be returned to you!.
Money Order for $205, comprising of $185 for the fee and $20 for the return postage (reasonable as they had to spend $16.25 for the return envelope on ours).
Fill the application: There would be a little confusion about items 13 and 14 in the application, which do not seem to be much different from one another, but if you are a normal case (both parents holding current Indian passports), you just have to fill item 13. Item 14 can be left blank.
The only thing to cheer in this whole process is the turnaround time, we got our baby's PIO card in a week.
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5 days ago
6 comments:
This is very useful information. I am trying to apply for a PIO card for my daughter and like you rightly said, the information on the consulate website is very confusing. Thank you for the detailed information!
Bingo on the birth certificate. They did not return the one I had sent for my son.
I guess, the turnaround time would be less if the application is submitted personally. I left around 15 voice messages in as many days without a single response. Though the application was delivered on Aug 18th 2008 (to the Embassy at Washington DC), the lady I spoke to (finally after 15 calls, few emails and few faxes!!!!!!) told me that she got it only on Aug 30th. I got the card the very next morning (as I had chosen the Express mail option)
Thanks for the info. I was wondering what \proof of residence' document would be applicable to our baby, as obviously he doesn't have a driver's license/lease document/utility bill associated with him, as per the instructions for PIO card.
I would think a perfect proof of residence certificate will be your baby's passport itself - as it is issued by the Federal Government, it should work without any problem.
Hi I have some questions
1. Did you leave a thumb print in the box below the photograph as well, or did you sign there?
2. Did you paste one photograph and attach four photographs?
http://indiacgny.org/appl_forms/Form116.pdf
The form says to paste a photo on page 1 and page two says attach 4 photos.
Its been a couple of years that we applied for PIO card for our son (and posted this), but we have another baby now and will have to do it again soon :).
Let me try answering your questions:
1. I remember this is the "signature" of the applicant, in which case it will be the thumbprint of the baby.
2. One of the classic examples of the clarity of this process. Go ahead and send them 5 passport pictures (add 2 more just in case :) - kidding).
On a side note, we went to the post office this morning to apply for the passport for our baby and all it took was 10 minutes - in addition to a little groundwork I had to yesterday evening (getting the passport pic ready and filling up the very straight forward application). I simply dont understand why the PIO card process has to be so complicated and the instructions so confusing. Hope our consulate learns from this to streamline the process and eliminate so much of confusion that we have to go through around this.
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