Present Indian:
Indian Citizenship, Indian Passport and Visa free travel
An article from “Present Indian” Blog, written by Abhay Adil
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Thank you for downloading this free ebook. The facts, laws, policies presented are taken from open public sources that are available across the World Wide Web. This ebook also remains freely available to public.
About this ebook:
This free ebook is a conversion of an article posted on “Present Indian” blog at http://present-indian.blogspot.in. The facts, laws and international policies that are mentioned in this article are researched to the author’s ability, however it should be noted that facts, laws and international policies are subject to change and should be crossed checked.
Indian
Citizenship Act, 1955 defines an Indian citizen by the following
terms:
Citizenship by Birth
Citizenship by
Descent
Citizenship by Registration
Citizenship by
Naturalization
And Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2005 defines
Indian citizen by the policy known as Jus Sanguinis (Latin for: right
of blood). Which means an Indian citizenship is not determined by
place of birth, but by having a parent(s) who are citizens of India.
In contrast with Jus Soli (Latin for: right of the soil)
As
Indian citizens, we can acquire an Indian passport. With an Indian
passport we are allowed to travel to some countries without visa, and
some countries offer us visa-on-arrival.
Through a very few
countries offer them to Indian passport holders, some of these
countries are good for holiday visit.
I would list some of the
countries I find interesting below, however it is always advisable to
check with a travel agent or the country's embassy to confirm before
taking off.
There are three types of Indian passports, these
are:
1) Regular Passport: they are ordinary passports issued to
ordinary citizens for ordinary travel; they are of deep blue
color.
2) Official Passport: they are issued to government
employees representing Indian government on official business; they
are of white color.
3) Diplomatic Passport: they are issued to the
top ranking Indian officials and Indian diplomats; they are of maroon
color.
Currently (as on 24-Nov-2011) Indian government
issues normal paper passports but soon start issuing biometric
passports.
Biometric passports would contain a chip which would
have all your data written on it, so these passports would be
computer readable.
Permanent Residency or PR:
Acquiring a
PR of another country has some advantages. PR status lets you stay in
that country indefinitely without acquiring its
citizenship.
According to the Indian Nationality Law you can
not have dual citizenship so if you accept a citizenship of any other
country your Indian citizenship is automatically terminated, under
section 9(1).
Even acquiring and passport of another country is
deemed to be a voluntary acquisition of another country's
citizenship.
PR is also known in USA as Green Card, which is
hard to get. If you get a PR of another country you become NRI
(Non-Resident-Indian).
With PR you get the benefit to live and
work in that country.
http://www.visasforindians.com/ is
a good website which host information on tourist visas, work visas
and PR of some countries.
According to an Indian citizen as
acquire Singapore PR after staying in Singapore for at least 6 months
on P, Q or S work pass. This would make it the easiest PR to obtain
if this information is correct.
Similarly they also say that after
staying in Canada for 1 year on continuous full time work experience
you can acquire Canada PR.
For travel purpose there are
many countries where Indian citizens can travel without Visas or
Visas are issued on arrival plus some country's tourist visas are
easily obtained.
All the countries offering visa free and
visa-on-arrival to Indian Passport holders can be found on various
websites including but not limited
to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_Indian_citizens
This
Wikipedia page shows the countries list according to its
continent.
Please note that wiki page may have some mistakes so
its advisable to cross check all the info.
i.e. I couldn't find
and info on Tajikistan giving visa free and visa-on-arrival to Indian
Passport holders. This is actually a good country to visit if you
like natural beauty, even through its not political stable.
Other
good website is http://www.visahq.in/
This
website give you visa related info many countries, through unlike its
U.S. counterpart you can't apply for visas through them.
Very
few of these countries are reasonable for a normal Indian citizen for
vacation.
Some of the countries I think are worth looking into are
mentioned below in no particular order.
Macau is one of
the two Special Administrative Region of China the other being Hong
Kong.
Currently they offer 30 days visa free travel to Indian
citizen which is mentioned on Macau embassy website.
It’s a nice
country to travel and vacation, the small island's main source of
income is tourism and gambling being its main attraction in fact
gambling is an important part of Macau's economy.
Similarly
Hong Kong offers visa free travel for 14 days to citizens of all
commonwealth countries, India being one of them.
It's a nice place
to visit with great culture and tourist attraction, Hong Kong film
industry being one.
Note:
Even through they are separate
nations they are also part of China and current tension between India
and China may cause some tension between Indian and Hong Kong &
Macau too.
Indonesia provides visa-on-arrival valid
for 30 days for a fee of US$ 25.
Indonesia offers great urban and
rural locations as well as great culture, its worth
visiting.
Thailand provides visa-on-arrival valid for 15 days
for a fee of 1000 THB.
Thailand has great locations and culture,
its capital city Bangkok is a nice place to vacation.
Singapore,
though they only give a 4 days transit visa upon arrival if holding
ticket and visa for traveling to another destination. It is better to
apply for a Singapore tourist visa and travel to this great
nation.
Former Indian National Army Memorial is a must visit for
every Indian, it is build at the same location of the INA War
Memorial which was destroyed.
Through I have my likeness
inclined towards to Asian countries as they are closer to home and
are much safer, there are some Caribbean countries which are worth
traveling to as they offer great natural beauty and awe inspiring
view though they are very far away for home and are high in
poverty.
Jamaica offers 90 days visa free travel.
It’s a
beautiful country, with spectacular natural landscapes. Its a country
deep in poverty so it is advisable to keep a safe guard from local
thugs.
Trinidad and Tobago also offers 90 days visa free
travel
Trinidad and Tobago is a country consist of two islands, it
has a good share of Indian culture and Indian people however there is
also an a minor Indian-African clash.
Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines offers 1 month visa fee travel
A beautiful country with
a great natural beauty, It has been one of the location of The
Pirates of The Caribbean movies.
Please note again: do
check with your travel agents and embassies before you plan your
visit to avoid any complications.
You can check out more
info on these countries and other countries, also check the pictures
of the locations, on The Lonely Planet's
website.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/
A
good website to visit for travel related information and a must for
travelers.
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