Child OCI renewal - HELP

[sanbal799]

Hi friends,

I applied to renew my child's (12 years old) OCI card in Nov'23. I received an acknowledgement email that they have received the renewal application. I checked the application status and it's showing that "your details have been updated in the OCI records". I did not received any email confirmation of this status and neither have I received a new OCI booklet. Advise on OCI website is that when ever a new passport is issued to anyone under 20 years or over 50 years have to renew their OCI cards. Is the status report print out and the old OCI booklet is enough to travel to India? If there is a change of rules/advice, please can someone comment or send some links please?

Thank you for your help
KRs
San

[BashirB]

The update message is one step forward in renewal process. It does not indicate that the new one has been issued yet, there are still some steps to that.

Your child's old OCI will still be valid till they issue the new one on the system.

For a moment assume you had not applied for renewal, does the validity date of current passport and OCI allow you to travel, if yes, then you are okay to travel even now. If the old OCI had already expired/cancelled then you need to wait till you receive the new one.

[sanbal799]

Hi,

Current passport is a new one. OCI card was issued on the old passport that is expired. What are the other steps in this process please?

I thought that they have stopped issuing new OCI card for children when renewing an OCI card? please correct me if I am wrong.

Regards
San

[sanbal799]

Hi Bashir,

Just to add, OCI card has no expiry date on it. It was issued in 2015. A U lifelong visa sticker is on my child's old passport as well.

KRs
San

[BashirB]

I was referring to underlying passport on which OCI is issued. As long as you have a valid passport from the same country on which the OCI was issued, you can still travel to India with the new passport. You do not need to wait for the new OCI booklet to arrive. They don't necessarily send a new booklet until the renewal of the first adult passport.

What happens is in the system, they simply record the details of the new passport and link it to the existing OCI.

You will receive a notification whether a new one will be issued or not. Not predictable based on experience of most parents.

[sanbal799]

oh ok,

Underlying password is an expired GBR passport. Yes, the new/renewed passport is also a GBR passport. I was just concerned that the airlines can be a real pain if the passport number in the OCI card doesn't match? So, the child can travel with the OCI card and the new/renewed GBR passport plus the print out of the application status?

KRs
San

[BashirB]

H will have to take BOTH passports with him for the first trip, especially as you don't know whether they have linked them both in the system.

Can't say much for airlines. Many are even clueless about different types of visas.