Renounce of Indian Citizenship is suspended

[sathyauk]

RC is currently suspended from today. Any one applying for OCI, you don't need RC, only surrender certificate is enough. Its has been verified with Birmingham VFS

[atto_lost]

RC is currently suspended from today. Any one applying for OCI, you don't need RC, only surrender certificate is enough. Its has been verified with Birmingham VFS

Thank you sathyauk , indeed it is a great news . Never understood the rationale of having two separate processes

[Zrl100]

Hi there,
Excuse my ignorance but I need some guidance please. My first British passport application after Naturalisation has just been approved & I should have my documents delivered back to me middle of this week.
Being an Indian passport holder, I was under the impression that one can apply for Surrender of passport & Renunciation together...then wait till the certificates come in the post. Then apply for Oci card...then wait a couple of months for this. Is this correct?

Having read the above that Renounce process is suspended, I'm totally confused. I've gone on the Indian embassy websites, there is no mention of the RC process being suspended?

What is the best way to get up to date instructions on getting an oci card?

So do you mean one still has to pay for the RC process but no longer need to wait for it for applying for OCI or that the whole RC thing has been eliminated as a step & no longer exists. Wasn't this introduced like a year ago in Sep 2023 or something?

[sathyauk]

Hi Zrl100,
The rule was introduced back in Sep2023, after that many minor children are affected due to this rule, so Indian commission has decided to suspend RC currently, so don't need to apply or pay for RC.

1. Surrender you Indian passport
2. Once you get your surrender certificate you can straight away apply for OCI

[Zrl100]

Thank you for your reply!

[thunderbird0910]

While the HCILondon has not made it very clear. The CGI Birmingham has clearly mentioned now in the renunication section https://cgibirmingham.gov.in/page/display/353

Text from the page.

If an applicant has already been issued a naturalisation certificate/passport by another country, the applicant loses his Indian Citizenship with immediate effect and hence is ineligible to apply for Renunciation of Indian Citizenship under Section 8 of the Indian Citizenship Act.

As per the latest guidelines, Renunciation is no longer a mandatory document for applying OCI

[hashbrown]

This seems to be good news!

But what does it mean for us? Does it knock off 3 months from the processing time?
Before Sept-2023, after surrendering passport, how much time did OCI normally take?
Now, after this change will OCI take same time as last year? What is the likelihood that they will change the OCI process to make it longer?

[sathyauk]

Yes. It will take same process before Sep 2023. The process time will be around 2 months to get an OCI card.
They have confirmed that "Printing of RC is stopped "- whoever applied for RC please ignore and apply for OCI now.

[johndough]

I see that hci london and cgi birmingham pages have been update but cgi edinburgh still has the previous instructions (of needing indian citizenship renunciation certificate) : https://www.cgiedinburgh.gov.in/page/guide/

Please also simultaneously apply for renunciation of Indian citizenship by making a declaration of intention to renounce Indian citizenship, in Form XXII, as specified in Rule 23 of The Citizenship Rules, 2009.

and

Both (i) and (ii) above are mandatory and must be sought by any person renouncing Indian citizenship. Therefore both processes’ fees must be paid.

where (ii) above ^^^ refers to the renunciation of Indian citizenship certificate and (i) refers to the usual passport surrender certificate.

Do you think we need to follow the rules until the page of the CGI under which we are applying for consular services (like OCI, RC etc) have been updated, or do you think it's just stale information and whatever HCI London says is the final word?

Has anybody applied for OCI/Surrender-certificate/Renunciation-certificate after 5th August 2024 in Edinburgh and can confirm if we no longer need RC if we are applying for OCI even under CGI Edinburgh?

[Zrl100]

Hi johndough,
My jurisdiction falls under CGI Birmingham. Thinking about it they won't have a different process for just CGI Edinburgh where SC & RC both are required. But then only SC will do for OCI at Birmingham & London.

Under the OCI section for both London & Birmingham embassy websites, it states -

"If an applicant has already been issued a naturalisation certificate/passport by another country, the applicant loses his Indian Citizenship with immediate effect and hence is ineligible to apply for Renunciation of Indian Citizenship under Section 8 of the Indian Citizenship Act.
As per the latest guidelines, Renunciation is no longer a mandatory document for applying OCI."

That should apply across the board. You can always call CGI Edinburgh or the local VFS centres for Scotland to clarify & put your mind at ease.

[johndough]

Thank you! I called the VFS helpline today and they confirmed that even for CGI Edinburgh there's no need for RC as that's withdrawn currently and we are only expected to have the Surrender Certificate, especially in the context of OCI.

Not related to this thread, but just something that was interesting: I've now booked an appointment online for OCI for this week. The website of CGI Edinburgh says that starting 2nd September 2024, the VFS office will move from its current address (in Leith, Edinburgh) to its new address (in Ponton Street, Edinburgh). My appointment letter says its the Ponton Street address. When I called both VFS and CGI offices above, simply out of curiosity than anything else, I just asked if I'm supposed to visit the new address as per the appointment letter. Obviously I thought the answer would be "yes", but to my surprise, the answer was to ignore the address in the appointment letter and visit the old address because the office will move to the new address only starting 2nd September.

Lol, just imagine, after driving 3 hrs to the new address in Edinburgh, I found out there's no office there, or that I need to visit the old address which now I can't reach on time (traffic in Edinburgh during peak hour). That would be 6hrs round trip wasted, another booking appointment and so on. I just hope that folks at the old address now don't turn me down later this week asking me to visit the new address! This is like a roller-coaster!

[Chennaicorner]

Hi All
I wanted to share my experience in applying OCI today(13/08/24). We applied in VFS Leicester(Birmingham) and there was no mention of renunciation certificate. My wife and I applied with the Surrender certificate along with the other mandatory documents but no need of renunciation certificate. The staff at VFS are aware of the change and were happy to help. This hopefully have reduced the overall time period in getting the OCI. Now its a matter of waiting. Good luck to all.

[sidtanulondon]

Hi

I need to start my surrender & OCI process. I understand the RC process has been suspended. If anyone has initiated surrender process after the rule change, can you please help with my below query:

In order to apply for surrender certificate, the website requirement includes filling form + mandatory doc requirements (to be submitted in person) + RC form to be filled online. Do we need to fill the RC form or not?

[sathyauk]

Hi

I need to start my surrender & OCI process. I understand the RC process has been suspended. If anyone has initiated surrender process after the rule change, can you please help with my below query:

In order to apply for surrender certificate, the website requirement includes filling form + mandatory doc requirements (to be submitted in person) + RC form to be filled online. Do we need to fill the RC form or not?

No need to fill RC form and the step is not needed to apply for OCI