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By Rajkamal Rao
Go back to Immigration, Taxes & Finance
In the US, Indians are likely to hold one of three immigrant states: nonimmigrant (including student and work visa categories); permanent residency (green cards) and US citizenship. Each of these states is progressively harder to obtain. When you decide to return to India for good, your strategies to protect your status if possible (and obligations therein) will be different and largely dependent upon your immigrant status.
If you are on a non-immigrant visa, returning to India is not that hard to do. You have no obligations in the US other than to not have violated any of your visa provisions. You simply surrender your I-94 card at the airport and board your India flight.
If you are on a non-immigrant visa (H-1, J-1, L-1) but have applied for a green card, you face some tough questions. Should you wait to procure your green card first? How long would it take? Both the president and Congress are working on immigration reform as a top priority. Some leaders have suggested that every foreign student’s Masters or Ph.D diploma in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields should be stamped with a green card. There is already a move by Congress to re-allocate 50,000 additional green cards (from the Visa Diversity quota) to STEM applicants.
What would you do with that green card if you have already decided to return to India? Are you willing to split your time between the US and India? (USCIS rules require that you maintain permanent residency in the US in order to protect your green card and conventional wisdom states that this means a stay of at least 180 days in each calendar year. Check with your immigration attorney about deviations and exceptions to this rule).
If you are on a green card, but your family members are not, what should you do? Wait until each member in your close family at least has a green card? Or should you wait until you and your spouse acquire US citizenship?
If you are a US citizen, should you wait until you have applied for and obtained the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card? OCI card holders enjoy near dual citizenship privileges although they do not have the right to vote in India. The most important benefit for OCI card holders is that they can stay in India for unlimited periods of times (practically live there) without having to register with Indian police authorities.
[Separately, the Indian government has published new rules for the re-issue of OCI cards for people who are 50 or older and get a new passport. For an applicant who is 50 years of age or older, OCI documents must be re-issued once after the issuance of a new passport. Check the website of the Indian Embassy for details.]
Indians are, by nature, risk averse. Successful returnees have at least one spouse acquire US citizenship - assuming that at least one child already has citizenship - so that they retain the option of returning to the US should their India relocation plans fail. In extreme risk-averse families, all family members wait to become US citizens before they even entertain the idea of returning to India.
Maintaining US citizenship has its clear advantages. Having a US passport makes international travel easier - and can be used as a selling point in India job interviews and business ventures. Although it is fairly commonplace to see Indians traveling to the US, obtaining a US passport continues to have an allure among Indians that is unparalleled. In such communities, some Indians may just wish to brandish their US passport as a mark of stature or achievement.
US citizens don’t have onerous “stay in the US requirements” like permanent residents do. US citizen children don’t have to wait in line to get student visas of their own when they intend to return to the US for college or graduate education. Children can qualify for various types of financial aid that colleges offer simply on the strength of their citizenship. Citizen children can also more easily integrate back into US life by finding a job without having to undergo what their parents did when they were non-immigrants a generation prior. And as US citizen returnees grow older, they are entitled to collect their social security benefits even if they live in India.
But there are costs. US citizens, like permanent residents, have to continue to file taxes with the IRS. They may be called up for jury duty when they are in India - and arrangements should therefore be made to either fulfill this important civic duty or get a waiver. And in today’s security situation in the world’s sensitive spots, US passport holders (although of Indian origin) are more likely to be targets of terror groups.
Thus, returning families have a lot to think about. Consulting a qualified immigration attorney is highly recommended.
Go back to Immigration, Taxes & Finance
In the US, Indians are likely to hold one of three immigrant states: nonimmigrant (including student and work visa categories); permanent residency (green cards) and US citizenship. Each of these states is progressively harder to obtain. When you decide to return to India for good, your strategies to protect your status if possible (and obligations therein) will be different and largely dependent upon your immigrant status.
If you are on a non-immigrant visa, returning to India is not that hard to do. You have no obligations in the US other than to not have violated any of your visa provisions. You simply surrender your I-94 card at the airport and board your India flight.
If you are on a non-immigrant visa (H-1, J-1, L-1) but have applied for a green card, you face some tough questions. Should you wait to procure your green card first? How long would it take? Both the president and Congress are working on immigration reform as a top priority. Some leaders have suggested that every foreign student’s Masters or Ph.D diploma in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields should be stamped with a green card. There is already a move by Congress to re-allocate 50,000 additional green cards (from the Visa Diversity quota) to STEM applicants.
What would you do with that green card if you have already decided to return to India? Are you willing to split your time between the US and India? (USCIS rules require that you maintain permanent residency in the US in order to protect your green card and conventional wisdom states that this means a stay of at least 180 days in each calendar year. Check with your immigration attorney about deviations and exceptions to this rule).
If you are on a green card, but your family members are not, what should you do? Wait until each member in your close family at least has a green card? Or should you wait until you and your spouse acquire US citizenship?
If you are a US citizen, should you wait until you have applied for and obtained the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card? OCI card holders enjoy near dual citizenship privileges although they do not have the right to vote in India. The most important benefit for OCI card holders is that they can stay in India for unlimited periods of times (practically live there) without having to register with Indian police authorities.
[Separately, the Indian government has published new rules for the re-issue of OCI cards for people who are 50 or older and get a new passport. For an applicant who is 50 years of age or older, OCI documents must be re-issued once after the issuance of a new passport. Check the website of the Indian Embassy for details.]
Indians are, by nature, risk averse. Successful returnees have at least one spouse acquire US citizenship - assuming that at least one child already has citizenship - so that they retain the option of returning to the US should their India relocation plans fail. In extreme risk-averse families, all family members wait to become US citizens before they even entertain the idea of returning to India.
Maintaining US citizenship has its clear advantages. Having a US passport makes international travel easier - and can be used as a selling point in India job interviews and business ventures. Although it is fairly commonplace to see Indians traveling to the US, obtaining a US passport continues to have an allure among Indians that is unparalleled. In such communities, some Indians may just wish to brandish their US passport as a mark of stature or achievement.
US citizens don’t have onerous “stay in the US requirements” like permanent residents do. US citizen children don’t have to wait in line to get student visas of their own when they intend to return to the US for college or graduate education. Children can qualify for various types of financial aid that colleges offer simply on the strength of their citizenship. Citizen children can also more easily integrate back into US life by finding a job without having to undergo what their parents did when they were non-immigrants a generation prior. And as US citizen returnees grow older, they are entitled to collect their social security benefits even if they live in India.
But there are costs. US citizens, like permanent residents, have to continue to file taxes with the IRS. They may be called up for jury duty when they are in India - and arrangements should therefore be made to either fulfill this important civic duty or get a waiver. And in today’s security situation in the world’s sensitive spots, US passport holders (although of Indian origin) are more likely to be targets of terror groups.
Thus, returning families have a lot to think about. Consulting a qualified immigration attorney is highly recommended.
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