Applied for British Citizenship, however Indian passport is about to expire

[karuna648]

Dear All,

I am an Indian citizen residing in UK. I have Indefinite Leave to Remain Visa in the UK. I have applied for British Citizenship and passport in June 2017 and waiting for it. I have Indian Passport which expires next month i.e. Oct 2017, My question is do I need a valid renewed Indian password as I would need to submit the passport to apply for my OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) card. Any guidance would be of great help.

Thank you,
Karuna

[TheVillager]

You need a valid UK passport to apply for the OCI - not an Indian one. You will have to surrender your Indian passport after your UK citizenship is approved. You need the surrender certificate and your surrendered passport along with your UK passport (and other documents) to apply for the OCI. If you are planning to get travel visas on your valid indian passport (prior to your UK citizenship approval), then by all means renew it as most countries need 3-6 months validity on the passport when issuing visas.
http://www.vfsglobal.com/india/uk/OCI.html should have more info about other document requirements for OCI.

[abhisheks9]

Hey Karuna

I am in nearly identical situation to yours.
I also applied British Citizenship in 1st week of June and my indian passport will expire by end of this year.
Ideally its better to wait for citizenship to approve but looking at way Home Office is working its putting everything in jeopardy.

I suggest find 1) if indian passport can be surrended after expiry if there is no travel plan for you of UK
Or 2) go for renewal of passport which you can later surrender once you get British citizenship.

Let us update your situation.

Abhishek.