British citizenship and travel arrangements - Pls help

hsmp170177 · Post by **hsmp170177** » Wed Sep 02, 2009 8:18 pm

Hi,

I have recently received my citizenship approval letter but not yet received BC certificate or applied for passport. I need to travel to my home country in the next 2 weeks.

I am planning to go for the ceremony after i come back to the UK in Oct. Can i travel on my current Indian passport or will that be an issue?

Pls advice.

Many Thx
Raj

OFCHARITY · Post by **OFCHARITY** » Wed Sep 02, 2009 8:26 pm

shouldn't be a problem, you are not officially British until you attend your ceremony and recieve your certificate as far as I know, my spouse and child's approval letters arrived while we were out of the country, there was absolutely no problems re-entering.

hsmp170177 · Post by **hsmp170177** » Wed Sep 02, 2009 8:32 pm

many thx OffCharity.

my kid(1yr old) has already received his certificate but i havent applied for his passport as if he get British passport it will take 3-4 weeks to get Indian visa on it (i need to travel next week).

i am planning to apply for his passport after we come back, should i be concerned about that?

thx again

TinTinTin · Post by **TinTinTin** » Thu Sep 03, 2009 12:22 am

hsmp170177 - I'll be concerned about your Son's case, as he is British now.

For his travel to India, he should have a British passport with Indian Visa or OCI or PIO

Infact, you are asked to surrender your indian passport as soon as you acquire nationality of another country.

You may ask, will it be an issue or will someone stop you ? I dont know...

hert · Post by **hert** » Thu Sep 03, 2009 1:14 pm

I think the wordings on the approval letter are important. What does the approval letter says..eligible, approved, assigned, accepted for BC?
You would need to surrende the indian passport on the day you acquire other (UK) nationality.
HTH

hsmp170177 · Post by **hsmp170177** » Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:27 pm

Yes i understand that the Indian passport needs to be surrendered immediately. But with my current travel plans i cant really trust the Indian embassy to issue OCI in 2 weeks time.
Has any one had come across similar situation, pls share your experiences

djb123 · Post by **djb123** » Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:10 pm

hsmp170177 wrote:Yes i understand that the Indian passport needs to be surrendered immediately. But with my current travel plans i cant really trust the Indian embassy to issue OCI in 2 weeks time.
Has any one had come across similar situation, pls share your experiences

As OFCHARITY has already said you will not become British until you attend the ceremony and receive your naturalisation certificate. So at the moment you are not British and therefore your Indian passport is still valid.

hsmp170177 · Post by **hsmp170177** » Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:03 pm

thats fine.
i am concerned about my son who has recently got his certificate as he was born here (form MN1).
pls advice
thx everyone

hsmp170177 · Post by **hsmp170177** » Fri Sep 04, 2009 6:19 pm

anyone had similar experience?
also if i receive my BC certificate next week can i travel using my Indian passport next weekend as there isnt enough time to apply for indian visa?

djb123 · Post by **djb123** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 7:32 am

hsmp170177 wrote:anyone had similar experience?
also if i receive my BC certificate next week can i travel using my Indian passport next weekend as there isnt enough time to apply for indian visa?

If you receive your BC certificate your Indian passport will no longer be valid, though ou are unlikely to have any problems travelling with it.

Others on here may be able to comment if this will cause you problems if later on if you apply for OCI.

chakku71 · Post by **chakku71** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 8:22 am

Agree with djb123,
You will have problems with the OCR.
There is also a bigger question. Was your child born when you had the ILR? The child should then be a British citizen by birth!

hsmp170177 · Post by **hsmp170177** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 9:47 am

thx Chakku71 & djb

- agreed if i travel after receiving certificate it could create issues when applying for OCI, so not worth taking that risk

- my son was born before ILR so had to apply for BC after my ILR and he received the certificate recently.

I will delay my ceremony until I am back but will have to travel with my son on his Indian passport (though he has received his BC certificate).

Has someone gone through similar situation?

Many thx

djb123 · Post by **djb123** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 10:47 am

hsmp170177 wrote:thx Chakku71 & djb

- agreed if i travel after receiving certificate it could create issues when applying for OCI, so not worth taking that risk

- my son was born before ILR so had to apply for BC after my ILR and he received the certificate recently.

I will delay my ceremony until I am back but will have to travel with my son on his Indian passport (though he has received his BC certificate).

Has someone gone through similar situation?

Many thx

I might be missing something, but isn't your son in exactly the same position as you would be if you did attend your ceremony this week?

ie he is British and his Indian passport is invalid though he could probably travel on it. Though traveling on it may cause him problems later.

hsmp170177 · Post by **hsmp170177** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:14 am

yes we both would be in the same boat if i attend my ceremony...

but i have no option but to make him travel on his Indian passport though it could be invalid as he has BC certificate.

i hope Indian embassy doesnt create a big fuss about his travel when we both apply for OCI later.

abidjan1 · Post by **abidjan1** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:16 am

hi hsmp170177

please tell me while you were registring your son did u had to provide marriage certicate?
i have receive my ilr after my son was born but i am unmarried to his mum.

hsmp170177 · Post by **hsmp170177** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:29 am

sent pm to you by mistake with details (rather than cliking post reply)

abidjan1 · Post by **abidjan1** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 12:34 pm

thank you for the reply

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British citizenship and travel arrangements - Pls help

British citizenship and travel arrangements - Pls help