ILR success but not happy

[srivisaN]

Hi,

Yesterday my wife got her ILR approved pretty stright forward process, just need to wait more time.

But the sad thing is while submitting the docs she was carrying my old India passport (which was cancelled as part of surrender passport process) and the CW asked her to give all passports documents she have.

Now, while handing over the originals the said they need to retain the my old india passport as it flagged in their system security as it should be given to Indian governemnt after I received my UK Citizenship. She made it clear that we have already done and explained about surrender passport process (only thing is she don't have my surrender certificate to prove that but only the old passport with a cut at edges).

Clearly they don't know the surrender passport processes (wherein we get the cancelled passport back along with surrender certificate) and they handed over a letter stating that my passport will be sent to Indian high commission.

Can anyone help me if someone already had such expereince and what is the possible complications that might arise in future

- complications from Indian Hight Commision (will they get any information from UK Home Office that there was a breach from my side)

- complication from UK Home Office (as this incident might put a remark on the system that I did something wrong)

I am trying to send my Surrender Certificate to UK Home office, bu there is no email address

I am also trying to contact India Hight Commission

[ouflak1]

Hi,

Yesterday my wife got her ILR approved pretty stright forward process, just need to wait more time.

But the sad thing is while submitting the docs she was carrying my old India passport (which was cancelled as part of surrender passport process) and the CW asked her to give all passports documents she have.

Now, while handing over the originals the said they need to retain the my old india passport as it flagged in their system security as it should be given to Indian governemnt after I received my UK Citizenship. She made it clear that we have already done and explained about surrender passport process (only thing is she don't have my surrender certificate to prove that but only the old passport with a cut at edges).

Clearly they don't know the surrender passport processes (wherein we get the cancelled passport back along with surrender certificate) and they handed over a letter stating that my passport will be sent to Indian high commission.

Can anyone help me if someone already had such expereince and what is the possible complications that might arise in future

- complications from Indian Hight Commision (will they get any information from UK Home Office that there was a breach from my side)

- complication from UK Home Office (as this incident might put a remark on the system that I did something wrong)

I am trying to send my Surrender Certificate to UK Home office, bu there is no email address

I am also trying to contact India Hight Commission

Just my opinion, but I don't think this security flag had anything at all to do with your passport being surrendered. The UK doesn't care or at all concern itself with other country's laws on passports and citizenship and such, and any nation's laws on that subject are strictly the provence of that nation. The UK stays out of it. That's strictly between the individual and their country.

I think what's happened here is that you, or someone with your name, has raised an security concern that, as part of an international agreement between the UK and India, has caused India to ask the UK to sieze your passport at any earliest opportunity (in this case, your wife's ILR application).

Have you traveled to India on this passport recently? I think you should try to contact someone in the Indian government (not sure who really...) and try to sort out why India would be motivated to take such an extreme measure.

[srivisaN]

Hi,

Yesterday my wife got her ILR approved pretty stright forward process, just need to wait more time.

But the sad thing is while submitting the docs she was carrying my old India passport (which was cancelled as part of surrender passport process) and the CW asked her to give all passports documents she have.

Now, while handing over the originals the said they need to retain the my old india passport as it flagged in their system security as it should be given to Indian governemnt after I received my UK Citizenship. She made it clear that we have already done and explained about surrender passport process (only thing is she don't have my surrender certificate to prove that but only the old passport with a cut at edges).

Clearly they don't know the surrender passport processes (wherein we get the cancelled passport back along with surrender certificate) and they handed over a letter stating that my passport will be sent to Indian high commission.

Can anyone help me if someone already had such expereince and what is the possible complications that might arise in future

- complications from Indian Hight Commision (will they get any information from UK Home Office that there was a breach from my side)

- complication from UK Home Office (as this incident might put a remark on the system that I did something wrong)

I am trying to send my Surrender Certificate to UK Home office, bu there is no email address

I am also trying to contact India Hight Commission

Just my opinion, but I don't think this security flag had anything at all to do with your passport being surrendered. The UK doesn't care or at all concern itself with other country's laws on passports and citizenship and such, and any nation's laws on that subject are strictly the provence of that nation. The UK stays out of it. That's strictly between the individual and their country.

I think what's happened here is that you, or someone with your name, has raised an security concern that, as part of an international agreement between the UK and India, has caused India to ask the UK to sieze your passport at any earliest opportunity (in this case, your wife's ILR application).

Have you traveled to India on this passport recently? I think you should try to contact someone in the Indian government (not sure who really...) and try to sort out why India would be motivated to take such an extreme measure.

No, I never travelled on that passport. The moment I received my UK passport, I surrendered it to Indian governmnet and got my OCI. I have travelled multiple times on my OCI, if Indian goverment had any issue they would have stopped me already.

Based on the way the PSC guys where talking, I guess they are not sure about the surrender process. I can clearly see the last page of my Indian passport shows "CANCELLED AND RETURNED WHICH HOLD VALID VISAS"

[ouflak1]

Based on the way the PSC guys where talking, I guess they are not sure about the surrender process. I can clearly see the last page of my Indian passport shows "CANCELLED AND RETURNED WHICH HOLD VALID VISAS"

I'm not sure who the 'PSC guys' are, but if they are UK, they likely know nothing about the Indian passport rules and/or don't care/need to know.

OCI is different from a passport and without any details on how India would issue a security bulletin against a citizen or other traveler, I can't say for sure why you would be able to travel with a UK passport+OCI and not an Indian passport (outside of the obvious internal Indian rules against it). But it is a very rare occurrence that governments talk each other into doing things like confiscate passports or even detain people without a lot of just cause. Such actions are usually through brokered international security agreements and enforced in very particular cases (an example being the U.S. no-fly-lists). The UK enforcing some other country's passport laws...??? Seems very unlikely. They are separate governments with separate concerns and the UK has enough hassle, some of it self-induced, enforcing its own laws regarding passports, much less some other country's internal laws.

I still think there is something more here, but I admit I'm just speculating. Maybe somebody else can chime in, but this is such an unusual event....

[CR001]

I cannot understand why you/spouse submitted the Indian passport in the first place, when it was not required!!!

[zimba]

As your indian passport has been cancelled, it is very likely in my opinion that the passport number has been put on the some kind of a watch list by Indian authorities during cancellation process so it has to be returned to Indian high commision if ever seen by international immigration authorities.
As case workers have to check all the documents, your passport flagged up as being on the list and obviously it had to be retained.
There is NO requirement to send your old passport with your spouse application

[srivisaN]

Thanks everyone,

She was not intentionally giving it to them, the PSC (Premium Service Center) guy forced her to give all the documents, passports she have. He saw them on her file and didn't allow her take anything back.

She just carried it in case they need it we can give it. But we ended up with that kind of person who has not allowed her to give what she like but he wanted everthing. She asked him why old passports which are cancelled, but he was not listening at all.

Seems like there is no one who experienced something like this on this forum, I will try to handle it myself.. rather than going by speculations.

[CR001]

YOUR old passports were NOT required. She should not have had them with her at all.

The caseworker would NOT have known it is YOUR passport, but likely assumed it was hers.

[ouflak1]

As your indian passport has been cancelled, it is very likely in my opinion that the passport number has been put on the some kind of a watch list by Indian authorities during cancellation process so it has to be returned to Indian high commision if ever seen by international immigration authorities.

Since we don't know, I suppose anything is possible. But I just can't believe that:

• 1. The Indian government would have other countries doing their bidding as far as their internal passport laws are concerned and
  
  2. That any country would go along with the expense and hassle of implementing some other country's laws without some kind of specific reciprocity agreement in place. Since the UK allows dual citizenship, what would be reciprocated?

As case workers have to check all the documents, your passport flagged up as being on the list and obviously it had to be retained.

I don't know.... Something is not right here. The is the United Kingdom. Not India. If India wants their passport back, then that's their problem, not the UK's.

[zimba]

Read my post again. This has nothing to do with Indian nationality law being implemented here. In my opinion, the passport flagged on the passport watch lists that monitor cancelled/lost passport (like the interpol SLTD database) It could be that Indian authorities have put that passport on such a database after cancellation as the OP gave up his Indian nationality Just a speculation and nothing about the nationality law

[secret.simon]

In this case, I believe that it is indeed Indian nationality law that is being implemented by the UK Home Office. It is pure conjecture on my part, but it seems that the UK Home Office works closely with their counterparts in India.

For instance, there used to be a short summary of Indian nationality law provided by the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs on the Home Office website.

Wikipedia also states that "the prevailing practice at a number of British diplomatic posts, for example, is to impound and return to the Indian authorities the Indian passports of those applicants who apply for and are granted British passports", citing correspondence between the UK and Indian High Commissions in Nairobi.

In any case, it is worth remembering that passports are the property of the respective issuing governments and not of the person named in the documents. I think that in this specific case, the OP would be best advised to contact the Indian High Commission to progress the matter.

[srivisaN]

collected back my cancelled Indian passport from High Commission of India, London today. They only handed over the passport, no supporting letters. They confirmed me that there is no breach from my side and they were not sure why UKVI was not up to date with the process.

I now want to prove that I haven't breached any rules and I surrendered my passport to HCI, London after I got my British Citizenship and HCI usually returns cancelled passport along with surrender certificate.

Anyone know what is the better way to communicate to Home Office ?

Can I use below link, it charges £5.48 but I hope it is better than a letter.
https://contact-ukvi.homeoffice.gov.uk/ ... ge/English

I already sent a letter to UKVI, Croydon PSC (with copy of surrender certificate, OCI etc) long back (25 days back) and didn't get any response.

I now want to convey them that I got my cancelled passport back from HCI, London as I didn't breached rule (by keeping cancelled India passport) and request them to confirm me by writing that there are no negative remarks on me with this issue on their system.

Thanks,
Sri.

[secret.simon]

request them to confirm me by writing that there are no negative remarks on me with this issue on their system.

You can of course apply for an SAR in your own name to see what notes the Home Office has on you, and probably a good idea for your wife to do the same, as the Indian passport was withheld in reference to her application.

But, in any case, you have not broken any UK law, so I doubt there would be any negative comments on you.

Can I use below link, it charges £5.48 but I hope it is better than a letter.[https://contact-ukvi.homeoffice.gov.uk/ ... ge/English

As I understand it, those emails are handled by a third-party company and I would not rely on either their advice or their ability to pass the information on to the correct team in the Home Office. Save yourself the money.

[srivisaN]

request them to confirm me by writing that there are no negative remarks on me with this issue on their system.

You can of course apply for an SAR in your own name to see what notes the Home Office has on you, and probably a good idea for your wife to do the same, as the Indian passport was withheld in reference to her application.

But, in any case, you have not broken any UK law, so I doubt there would be any negative comments on you.

Can I use below link, it charges £5.48 but I hope it is better than a letter.[https://contact-ukvi.homeoffice.gov.uk/ ... ge/English

As I understand it, those emails are handled by a third-party company and I would not rely on either their advice or their ability to pass the information on to the correct team in the Home Office. Save yourself the money.

Thanks, Simon. Yes, I have not broker any UK law and India Law. Shall I wait for some more time before sending SAR request, I think "an electronic summary of your immigration history" would be enough for this case. Or do I need below too

a list of your visa applications made in the UK
a particular decision letter

I will also try to send a letter to UKVI, Croydon, PSC.

[srivisaN]

request them to confirm me by writing that there are no negative remarks on me with this issue on their system.

You can of course apply for an SAR in your own name to see what notes the Home Office has on you, and probably a good idea for your wife to do the same, as the Indian passport was withheld in reference to her application.

But, in any case, you have not broken any UK law, so I doubt there would be any negative comments on you.

Can I use below link, it charges £5.48 but I hope it is better than a letter.[https://contact-ukvi.homeoffice.gov.uk/ ... ge/English

As I understand it, those emails are handled by a third-party company and I would not rely on either their advice or their ability to pass the information on to the correct team in the Home Office. Save yourself the money.

Thanks, Simon. Yes, I have not broker any UK law and India Law. Shall I wait for some more time before sending SAR request, I think "an electronic summary of your immigration history" would be enough for this case. Or do I need below too

a list of your visa applications made in the UK
a particular decision letter

I will also try to send a letter to UKVI, Croydon, PSC.

Hi, I sent a letter to UKVI, Croydon, PSC. No response.

Planning to request SAR, can anyone please help me to choose correct option here..

I can see basic, specific and detailed. Personally want to go with detailed but don't know what to put for "Explain the type of information you need and why you need it."

[srivisaN]

Hi,

My wife is trying to apply for British Citizenship soon and she need to answer below question on online application. w.r.t this issue, does she need to mention about what happened with my India passport. I think it is not necessary but wanted to know from the experts.

Do you have any dependants not applying with you at this time?
Yes (Husband)
Have any of these non-applying dependants been convicted of an offence or received a court order?
As per me I haven't convicted any offence and not received any court order, so NO

Thanks,
Sri.

[CR001]

Hi,

My wife is trying to apply for British Citizenship soon and she need to answer below question on online application. w.r.t this issue, does she need to mention about what happened with my India passport. I think it is not necessary but wanted to know from the experts.

Do you have any dependants not applying with you at this time?
Yes (Husband)
Have any of these non-applying dependants been convicted of an offence or received a court order?
As per me I haven't convicted any offence and not received any court order, so NO

Thanks,
Sri.

Please ask any British citizenship questions in the British Citizenship sub forum.

Asking in an ILR 'not happy' topic in the General Immigration sub forum is NOT the correct place.