Hi everyone, I’m really hoping for some perspective here. I’ve been based in Canada and had a stable role, working with a U.S. based firm and client. Unfortunately, that position was dissolved a few months ago. I’m really struggling to find something here since then. My husband now has a potential opportunity to move to the U.S. on an L1 visa, but one big worry we have is that his pay, converted to USD, would only be about what he’s earning now in Canadian dollars - with just a small raise (maybe 20-25%). Given that, I’m really unsure if this is the right move. And if I’ll even be able to land a decent role on an L2. The U.S. market feels like a big unknown and I worry that it’s as cooked as the Canadian market. But then again, I have an ounce of hope that it might present me with more opportunities.

If you’ve been in a similar situation, what would you do? Posting here in the hopes that people might be able to share the dynamics of running a single income household in the U.S. and/ or the struggles or success stories of their spouses finding relevant roles in U.S on dependent visas.

If you're wondering why police clearance certificates for NRIs now require an Indian address and family contacts in India, you should read this.

In the past, if you were an NRI in a foreign country and needed your Indian Passport Renewed or a Police Clearance Certificate from India, it was easy: If your passport was issued by the same Indian High Commission where you are applying for a Passport renewal or PCC (Police Clearance Certificate) then they could issue the PCC in a few days. Also, if your passport had online records, then they could issue your PCC in a few days. This system changed around 2023 because of what India did in Canada and the US. Indian High Commissions now demand an Indian address and family contacts before renewing your Passport or issuing a Police Clearance Certificate. An Indian cop verifies this information, as you can tell from the complaints on the Internet. The Indian cops treat NRI PCC requests as a free ATM.

Before 2023, no one complained about being unable to renew their passport or get a Police Clearance Certificate because they had no address or family in India. Now there are graveyards of complaints on the Internet from NRIs who are not able to get vital documents because they don't have a house or family in India. Google/Reddit search for: police verification for nri.

For those who have family in India now, know that they might not be there when you need consular services abroad. A centralized database, the National Crime Records Bureau, already exists and now all passports have online records, so police verification should be pretty easy. So why force NRIs to provide an Indian address and family contacts in India even if they don't have them?

For starters, the Indian government now wants to keep tabs on NRIs through their Indian address and family contacts. An Indian address and family contacts in India keep NRIs grounded. They'll think twice before criticizing the BJP government. It's India's state surveillance and control of NRIs presented in the guise of bogus security measures. Yes, you cannot escape Indian bureaucracy even if you leave the country.

India's activities in Canada and the United States have been extensively covered by news outlets for many years. A simple internet search will give you that information and more if you filter the results to news. I have to say this as there will always be dickheads (worthless IT Cell trolls) who have nothing better to do with their life except gaslight other people on the Internet and plant seeds of doubt. I don't expect this post to get much traction because of the IT Cell trolls.

I cannot post the details here on Reddit because it's easy for the Indian government to take it down. Someone has written it out nicely and if you want to know the details, you can read it on their blog. They've thoroughly documented everything, citing every source and linking to US DOJ indictments, guilty pleas, and extensive news coverage. I want you to understand why the Indian government wants your Indian address and your family contacts in India before proving consular services. No other country does this to their citizens, except probably North Korea, where they intend to use that information against you if you say anything. It is how the mafia operates, by using a person's home, family, and friends as leverage to force them into compliance. In Canada, the Indian High Commission was caught blackmailing Indian citizens through their families in India (see the article for details). There have been public cases in which people who criticized Modi were arrested when they visited India. How did the government know where they lived? Only a few cases become public, so the full extent is difficult to know. Internet search is your friend if you want to know the details, and with AI in the mix, finding factual information amid the noise and misinformation from IT Cell trolls is even easier.

The Indian address and family links requirement for Passport Renewal and a Police Clearance Certificate are ridiculous because not every NRI has a house and family in India. I don't have a house or family contacts in India, so holding me hostage over an Indian address and family contacts in exchange for consular services makes no sense.

India got busted and now we all pay the price

Vikash Yadav is an Indian intelligence agency employee with the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) - Big strong man with 70 IQ

The full PDF is at fbi.gov. Links to the US DOJ indictment and guilty plea are cited in the blog that I mentioned earlier.

Hey all,

I’ve been in the US for a few years now (mid-20s, working in tech), and one thing I didn’t expect was how confusing dating would feel here.

On paper, things should be easier, good job, stable life, decent social circle, however, that's not my lived experience lol!

Most convos on dating apps don't really go anywhere, and as someone who's interested in other Indian-origin people, I feel like there's an extra layer of expectations that makes things feel way more transactional?

Curious to know your experiences, does dating as an NRI feel harder than in India? (I never really dated back home, came straight for my master's after graduation) so I don't have a good baseline to compare against anyway, where do I find other Indian and Indian-origin people, and what actually worked for you?

We want to apply Aadhar but are getting confused with rules . Kid is born abroad with birth certificate not from India Kid and parents are Indian passport holders Parents have Aadhar with indian home adress We are not here since 182 days,

Aadhar Kendra call center 1947 said : 182 days stay is necessary .

Website : clearly says 182 days is not mandatory for NRI faq no 3 " can nri apply for aadhar" Ansyer is " yes and 182 day rule is not mandatory"

Anybody applied for their child with indian passport born outside with birth certificate from abroad , please share experience

Confused as hell. Did the call center confuse us with OCI holders ?

I have a British passport with OCI and got an aadhaar card relatively easily (except keep in mind the address requirements have changed and they no longer accept a lot of documents noted on the list of docs on the UIDAI site, eg no broadband bills, so I had to go next door to a cyber cafe and get some homeopathic doctor to sign a document).

Anyway, they didn't put my full date of birth and only year of birth shows up. I went back (Bangalore centre) and they said for OCI you can't have the full date of birth. I happened to be in Mumbai and tried at the ASK centre there and they said the same.

Is this everyone else's experience? I can't link my DL in Digilocker, KYC fails because DOB doesn't match etc etc.

I own a flat in Bangalore and I manage it entirely over WhatsApp and a Google Sheet that I last updated three weeks ago.

Every month it goes like this - tenant messages me that rent is sent, I check my NRE account, see it's there, send a thumbs up, and that's it. No receipt, no record, nothing. My tenant has asked me for proper rent receipts twice and both times I said "yes yes I'll send" and then completely forgot.

Then January comes and my CA asks for the full year's rental records and I spend an entire Sunday reconstructing everything from my bank statements and WhatsApp chat history. Every single year.

I keep meaning to fix this but honestly I don't even know what "fixing it" looks like. Do you just build a better spreadsheet? Is there an app people use? Or is everyone else also just winging it on WhatsApp?

Also curious - do you actually know if your property is making money? Like after EMI, society charges, property tax, the occasional plumbing/ maintenance work- I genuinely don't know if I'm net positive or not. I've never sat down and calculated it properly.

Would love to know how others handle this, especially if you're managing from a different timezone.

Last but not least are any of you members of NRI whats app groups about investments/real estate. Any country is fine. I just want to talk to people.

Any help is appreciated. Please Dm if you have info.

Im living in states and want to transfer 50k usd to my sister account in India. Will I or she be charged any tax? I am planning to use Western Union for transfer.

I’m a bit confused about the alcohol purchase rules at Delhi Duty Free and was hoping someone here has firsthand experience.

I’m 21, and will be traveling soon from vancouver to delhi. Some say legal age is 21 other say it's 25.

So I’m trying to figure out:

1. Can I buy alcohol directly at the duty free store at the airport if I’m 21?
2. Has anyone my age successfully purchased from there?
3. Is the 25+ rule strictly enforced at the counter or just online?

I don’t want to risk pre-ordering and then getting refused, especially since I’m planning to pick up a specific bottle.

Would really appreciate any recent experiences or advice!

I recently renewed my OCI card (after turning 20) and received the new card yesterday. Today, I got a call from a person claiming to be from the Ministry of Home Affairs and that he will be coming to my house at 5:00 PM, to which I declined, since I'm not there right now.

He asked me to send copies of my passport, Aadhaar, OCI, and employment details for something he called “post verification.” He also asked for the same documents from my parents, brother, and spouse.

A few things felt off:

He insisted that all communication would be done over WhatsApp

When I asked for his official ID, he refused, saying he would only share it after I send my documents

His email ID is a personal Gmail address, not a government domain

When I asked for an official email, he claimed they don’t have those

He became quite pushy and said he could come to my house or local police station today itself, claiming he has a letter from the FRRO. He also knew my address

I was never informed by FRRO about any such follow-up after OCI issuance, and the urgency + insistence felt suspicious.

Has anyone experienced anything similar? Is there any legitimate “post verification” process like this, or does this sound like a scam?

Hey guys being NRIs we face daily struggles and often want to have someone to talk to have you guys thought about seeking therapy?

My parents are visiting US for first time. I am bit worried about immigration for them considering current political climate and also their comfortability with English. My younger brother is traveling with them but it also makes me concern on officer questioning them on duration of stay etc.

How is immigration nowadays for parents? What kind of questions and scenarios i should prepare for? Any recent experience is much appreciated. Thanks!

I’ve been trying to lose weight for the past year and every calorie tracking app

Yesterday I made dal tadka, jeera rice and some bhindi sabzi for dinner. Simple home food. I open MyFitnessPal and spend 20 minutes searching:

•	“Dal tadka” shows 47 different entries with wildly different calories. Which one is my mom’s recipe?

•	“Bhindi” doesn’t exist. “Okra” has 12 entries, none of them account for the mustard seeds and oil tadka

•	There’s no concept of a “katori” anywhere. Everything is in cups and grams

I just gave up and logged “Indian food dinner - 600 calories” which is basically useless.

The apps just weren’t built for us. They assume you’re eating grilled chicken and measured portions of brown rice. Not pesarattu for breakfast, sambar rice for lunch and whatever mom made for dinner.

The thing that actually would help me is if I could just photograph my plate and have something tell me roughly what’s on it — in terms my mom would actually use. Like katoris not cups. Rotis not “1 serving flatbread.”

I actually started sketching out what an app like this would look like and it got me thinking — is this just my problem or does everyone here deal with this?

And the bigger question: if something like this existed would people actually pay for it? Or would you just expect it to be free like every other app?

Asking because I’m genuinely trying to figure out if this is worth building

I am a first generation Overseas citizen, I moved back permanently after acquiring my foreign citizenship, it’s been 5 months now. I am permanently planning on staying for now, I checked most of the Indian govt website but unable to determine what’s the right course of action for obtaining my OCI. I know I need to renounced my Indian citizenship first but even for that there’s no structured guide on any website that I could find. If anyone who’s had similar experiences or know of any leads, it will be greatly appreciated.

Note: I flyer back on my Indian passport after my citizenship ceremony and I applied and received the foreign passport via post from my embassy.

The recent war has really shaken me up. I am scared of the future, more than ever. How do you decide whether you want to move back to India? Also, how is your country for a family? And how easy is it to get visa and work around details?

Context: i am 2nd gen Indian in Dubai, parents have moved back and are retired. They keep visiting me but are happy back in India. I have some savings and flexibility to consider a move. But everytime I go back to India, I realise how I might never belong there. It is also so dirty and chaotic. I am also scared of not feeling free.

Hi,

I am based in Europe and planning to return to India soon. I am debating whether it is worthwhile to take the EU passport (I am eligible) before returning to India to build my startup. From what I researched, building a startup with a foreign passport, with OCI seems to be doable. I am interested in a deep-tech startup initiative and access to government funds like Nidhi Prayas etc might be a good idea. However, from what I understand, access to government funds is not possible to foreign passport holders living in India. Is this correct? Does that mean that obtaining the foreign passport might actually limit my startup initiative more than helping ?

Hey, I might be in the wrong place asking this, but I'm curious about how foreign nationals can open bank accounts here.

At my company, we have a few US employees (not Indian) who only visit India once or twice a year.

For some reason, they want to open bank accounts in India.

Can they even do that?

Do I g ave to upload all the required documents from the check list , before I can print? I am having so much difficulty in uploading, it keeps throwing error that is not pdf, even though they are. I am spending enormous time, trying to guess what is wrong?

Pl help

Hi, received dispatched email from Vfs for my passport. i sent fedex return prepaid label. but its been 2 business days, there is no movement/update on fedex tracking. it says label created, any idea how many days it takes tracking to become active once vfs dispatches the package.

Hey everyone,

I am moving to Jakarta for work and wish to keep my Jio sim active to receive OTPs, do I need to do any recharge or can I just turn on/ activate international roaming and by default use the pay as you go option? Or are there any other ways, because I will be staying there for more than two years and cannot lose access to this number.

TIA