My husband has both U.K. and Canadian passports. We have a holiday booked to Goa in January. We reside in the UK. We're looking at the visa application: he has to declare his Canadian passport. However they are not letting Canadians in at the moment. Will they let him in since he was born in the UK and holds a UK passport, or would this prevent him from entering?
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4Where did you see that Canadians are not allowed in India?– Nicolas FormichellaCommented Nov 14, 2023 at 10:14
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11@NicolasFormichella there has recently(-ish) been a dispute where India stopped issuing visas for Canadians. I don't think there was ever an entry ban, but some (perhaps exaggerated or misheard) version of this is presumably the source of OP's concerns.– Chris HCommented Nov 14, 2023 at 11:13
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2Background detail. A Canadian citizen, of Indian-Sikh heritage, and who was critical of the Indian government recently died. The Canadian PM accused the Indian government of being involved in it. politics.stackexchange.com/questions/81552– CSMCommented Nov 15, 2023 at 11:55
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1Did you find an answer to this. I am in a similar situation — I hold a Canadian and Croatian passport. I will be applying with my Croatian passport, but I am worried about getting denied. I would really appreciate if you could share the outcome. Thank you!– Mollie MCommented Nov 19, 2023 at 21:00
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2 Answers
Most restrictions of this sort are enforced only with respect to the passport that the traveler is traveling with or presents for the visa application. Some are not, however.
Since this restriction is only a couple of months old, you may be unlikely to find another Canadian dual citizen who has applied for an Indian visa outside of Canada using their other passport. If you can't make contact with such a person, the quickest way to get a definitive answer may be to apply for the visa as soon as possible, like today, and see whether it is granted. If you do this, please come back and post an answer to let us know what happens.
A couple of weeks ago, however, India announced that it was ending the suspension of visa services for Canadian citizens:
After a month-long freeze, Indian officials say the High Commission in Ottawa and consulates-general in Toronto and Vancouver will resume processing some types of visas starting Thursday. ... According to the release, officials will resume services for entry visas, business visas, medical visas and conference visas.
This in any event casts the restriction as applying only to services in Canada, making it perhaps even less likely that your husband would be affected in the UK. I haven't found any official statement that the restriction applies to Canadian citizens by virtue of their citizenship, so it isn't clear what the specific terms of such a citizenship-based restriction might be or what the terms of any partial relaxation might be, but surely if they're issuing visit visas to Canadians in Canada it's unlikely that they'd refuse to do so for a Canadian/UK dual citizen applying with a UK passport in the UK.
Well, he doesn't technically have to declare his Canadian passport. It's not like they are going to know any better. There isn't some world government citizenship agency (at least not yet). To be safe, just leave the Canadian passport back in the UK.
Most people don't have two passports, and quite a few don't even have one (cough Americans cough). And a lot of countries (China) limit passports to one nationality per citizen, so it's unlikely to occur to some back-country border agent that your husband just happens to be a Canadian dual citizen.
This is honestly such an edge case that it's almost a nonissue. Just go and enjoy your vacation.
Source: am a dual citizen.
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"And a lot of countries (China) limit passports to one nationality per citizen", This statement is a bit odd, so maybe needs clarification. China does not allow its own citizens to hold multiple nationalities. However, it has no say whatsoever with dual (or more) nationals who are not Chinese citizens. They may hold as many 'passports' as they are legally entitled by the laws of the respective nations involved. Also, a passport is an identity document and does not confer, or equal, nationality or citizenship - it merely reflects such status.– ouflakCommented Nov 16, 2023 at 8:28
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2"...back-country border agent..." Not sure I like where you're going with that remark. Underestimating the intelligence or experience level of a border control officer is a very unwise thing to do. Likewise, it's probably not a good idea to give advice to someone who will actually have to come face-to-face with that person, that they can assume that the border control officer is 'back-country' and won't make additional inquiries if they sense something is amiss.– ouflakCommented Nov 16, 2023 at 8:34
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Lmao did somebody get triggered? It's only an underestimation if it's untrue. No so-called 'qualified' (debatable) officer worth their salt will waste their time fact-checking a 'just-in-case' potential citizenship from an arbitrary country if a valid passport from a valid country is presented in the first place. Nor will that citizenship information be readily available, if at all. This ain't my first rodeo. OP should choose the approach best befitting their personality type.– AshraileCommented Nov 16, 2023 at 11:35
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2Please do not condone lying... You wouldn't want to be stuck in an Indian (or any SE Asia) jail for something as childish as lying on an official form and getting caught out (most dual-nat, me included, as a security measure in case of loss, carry both passports everywhere they go, and finding a passport in a bag is a pretty simple thing they can do to figure out you've lied) Commented Nov 19, 2023 at 21:32
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1That's why you don't bring the passport with you. Which I already stated in my post. If you're not comfortable bending the rules for a nonissue, do it by the book by all means. Spend 15 days (or however long) waiting for a visa for a country you can already legally enter on your primary or secondary nationality.– AshraileCommented Nov 20, 2023 at 13:49