Will an overstay in India as a child affect future travel?

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As his situation is not standard, getting in touch with an experienced immigration lawyer is likely to be the best. But it needs to be someone who has experience with his kind of situation and the countries involved. Not just the first person who has 'lawyer' on his door.

In principle, overstay as a minor is not counted against the same person as an adult, certainly not if he was a refugee from a war zone at the time. What makes it more complicated is that he stayed till he graduated (which is likely to be after he turned 18, and thus was an adult.) One rule is that the person has left the country while still a minor or shortly after. (And how shortly depends on the country.)

On top of that comes the history of traveling as an adult. If he was never asked, in person or on forms, about a previous overstay or if he answered the full truth about it, that again is not a problem.
But if he has ever lied about his previous (overstay) history, he has made his future travels less straightforward and maybe even impossible. And that is why he needs that lawyer most.

A good lawyer can work with him to sort out most of the problems. But if he lied to immigration officials, there might be a hurdle too high to jump.
Having a new passport does not clear the travel history of a person, that history stays with him for the rest of their life. Having a new passport may make breaking laws and/or lying to immigration officers easier, which may make for a harder clear up period.

It might well be that they can get him cleared for some countries but not for others, or get him cleared for short stays but not for moving to a new country.

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