Query on India passport surrender and OCI

[tan777]

Dear community,
Perhaps it is answered somewhere just can't find it. I have two simple queries

1) My family will receive BC certificate next week, but I won't be able to travel to London VFS to surrender their India PP until Mid - January 2017. Query is - if one does not travel on Indian passport, what is the maximum time before which one can surrender and subsequently apply for OCI without causing much of an issue.

2) Is there any specified time before which one must apply for OCI after receiving surrender certificate iow - does SS certificate have expiry?

[rmukherjee]

Dear community,
Perhaps it is answered somewhere just can't find it. I have two simple queries

1) My family will receive BC certificate next week, but I won't be able to travel to London VFS to surrender their India PP until Mid - January 2017. Query is - if one does not travel on Indian passport, what is the maximum time before which one can surrender and subsequently apply for OCI without causing much of an issue.

You should surrender the Indian passport "as promptly as possible". As long as you're not travelling on the Indian passport you can take your time and surrender it at your convenience. However I'd recommend surrendering it within 6 months of receiving your naturalisation certificate.

2) Is there any specified time before which one must apply for OCI after receiving surrender certificate iow - does SS certificate have expiry?

No, as far as I know. They charge £115 for the surrender certificate and for that kind of money it would be rather sad if it expired Also according to Indian law 'surrender' is a one way street.

[tan777]

Many thanks. Do you know if I can go alone to surrender on behalf of my family? any documentation needs?

[rmukherjee]

Many thanks. Do you know if I can go alone to surrender on behalf of my family? any documentation needs?

Yes you can. For my wife I carried a letter of authorisation, something like this --

I, the undersigned and holder of Indian Passport no. xxxx, would like to apply to surrender my Indian passport as I have received British citizenship. This letter is to authorise my husband/wife xxxxx (British Passport no. xxxxx) to submit my passport-surrender application to VFS on my behalf.

For children it's not necessary.

There's a list of documents required on the VFS Website (section - Documents Required)