Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI)

[alampal]

I travelled to india with my Indian passport after getting a foreign passport.

I surrendered recently (paying the 90£ surrender fee), and subsequently applied for OCI.

I was told to pay a penalty of 125 £ per visit to india after the date I got my foreign passport.

I aksed if it is illegal or an offense to have travelled or will it be used aginst me to get OCI, and the answer was No, Just pay the penalty and get the surrender certificate and then apply for OCI, which will be processed.I had to pay the penalty before I could get the surrender certificate.

But somewhere on some site, the information on the duration of processing , it is mentioned that normal processing time is about 30 days..and in penalty cases it might take longer.

[SidB]

I travelled to india with my Indian passport after getting a foreign passport.

I surrendered recently (paying the 90£ surrender fee), and subsequently applied for OCI.

I was told to pay a penalty of 125 £ per visit to india after the date I got my foreign passport.

I aksed if it is illegal or an offense to have travelled or will it be used aginst me to get OCI, and the answer was No, Just pay the penalty and get the surrender certificate and then apply for OCI, which will be processed.I had to pay the penalty before I could get the surrender certificate.

But somewhere on some site, the information on the duration of processing , it is mentioned that normal processing time is about 30 days..and in penalty cases it might take longer.

Hi Alampa,

Can I ask how many months after receiving your foreign passport did you travel to India (on your indian passport)?

The reason I ask is a LOT of the Indian high commissions across the world offer a grace period. For example, this is what i found on the Indian High Commission HK site:
"3. A grace period of three months is allowed from the date of acquisition of foreign citizenship, for the purpose of travel on Indian passport. Therefore, no penalty will be leviable for travel on Indian passport within three months of acquisition of foreign passport. "

Unfortunately, the london site does not say so but i do not know why the policy may be any different here. Could just be they follow the policy but they dont state on the website.

I have sent my passport for a surrender certificate. I travelled after being naturalised but BEFORE getting my passport. Lets see if I get stuck as a penalty case..hope not!

[alampal]

I travelled in August after getting the citizenship in April .(few years back)

I am not having the UK passport..in fact the HCI asked me on phone to submit the naturalisation certificate..which i do not have ..so I told them that it is not given in the country I lived in..
, but if you are from UK..they would ask for the certificate and calculate from the date of your certificate and not of your passport.(which will be subequent)..

I am sure All of us knew that it is required under Indian law to surrender the Indian passport after a foreign citizensip

..and if we did not we have to pay the penalty
and be happy that after that OCI will be processed.

My wife cancelled hers and of one of children promptly at the time of foreign citizenship..and it was cancelled free at that time.

Maybe I am the first one/ first few to pay penalty ..and it does not seem to have been written down for people to see and understand.

but in my case it is 125£ per illegal trip to India.
============
I am sure this causes some heartburn..but here it is

1)90£ cost per passport for surrender certificate
2) 165£ cost per passport for OCI
3)125£ penalty per trip made on Indian passport after getting a foreign passport

[SidB]

I travelled in August after getting the citizenship in April .(few years back)

I am not having the UK passport..in fact the HCI asked me on phone to submit the naturalisation certificate..which i do not have ..so I told them that it is not given in the country I lived in..
, but if you are from UK..they would ask for the certificate and calculate from the date of your certificate and not of your passport.(which will be subequent)..

I am sure All of us knew that it is required under Indian law to surrender the Indian passport after a foreign citizensip

..and if we did not we have to pay the penalty
and be happy that after that OCI will be processed.

My wife cancelled hers and of one of children promptly at the time of foreign citizenship..and it was cancelled free at that time.

Maybe I am the first one/ first few to pay penalty ..and it does not seem to have been written down for people to see and understand.

but in my case it is 125£ per illegal trip to India.
============
I am sure this causes some heartburn..but here it is

1)90£ cost per passport for surrender certificate
2) 165£ cost per passport for OCI
3)125£ penalty per trip made on Indian passport after getting a foreign passport

Yeah, technically I am aware that I can be penalised since I did travel after "acquiring" citizenship but before acquiring the passport. The reason I had to travel was because I had a pre-booked trip and the naturalisation certificate came earlier than expected and the passport takes 6 weeks to issue so I couldnt apply before leaving.

I think this is a legitimate scenario which many other can and will face which probably explains why indian high commissions across the globe have a grace clause. I'm hoping they'll apply that in my case. If they don't, its heartening to know im just starting at a financial penalty and no impact on OCI.

I do hope though that the 3 month grace period is applied!

[bshetty75]

Hi,

Is anyone aware of any backlog of OCI applications at HCI London?

I applied for OCI for my family on Sep 18th in person at HCI London. Our application online status shows that the photos/signs were scanned on Oct 15th. So far the status only reflects as “Under Progressâ€

[punjabi boy]

Hi all
I applied for OCI last week at HCI LONDON in person. Question for you all can you remember if you submitted 2 copies of FORM A?. that is the one where the photo is attached to. It's just that when i handed over the forms to the officer she only took the one FORM A and copies of all the docs.
Any help on this?.....Can you remember this is right?
I am worried that the application will be held up because of this. Although the application is showing UNDER PROCESS with a ACKNOWLEDGEMENT DATE.

status on online tracking reads as follows:

Date Of Acknowledgment 29-OCT-2009
Application Status
Registration Status UnderProcess
Documents Printing Status NOT PRINTED
Documents Despatched From Delhi On NOT DISPATCHED
Documents Received at LONDON NOT YET


many thanks

[rakh]

reply to all queries:

I applied on 5th oct by post . still waiting to receive the surrender certificate. I have enclosed a self addresed envelope(with app. stamp) also. They only ask for active passport, not a passport which has already been cancelled by HCI. they don't send the passport back, therefore you should photocopy the passport before sending. Yes, you need to send postal order not banker's draft. You don't need to attest the photocopies.

I hope I have answered all your queries.

Applied on 12.10.09 for surrender certificate with the following documents
Orginal Indian Passport
Photocopy of Indian passport
Photocopy of Bristish Passport
Photocopy of naturalization certificate
Crossed postal order for £90
Recorded self addressed return envelope

cheers

Applied on 12.10.09 for surrender certificate
Recieved on 26.10.09
Applied OCI 26.10.09

hi all
a quick update, after trying for couple of days, finally today i was able to get through OCI officer, but with no good results, i could not get any information from them, as they kept saying we have too many applications, please call back after few days

I have submited application on 26thOct by post with a photocopy of surrender certificate

its really painful and frustrating..after trying for days and in the end you get no proper answer

cheers

[punjabi boy]

reply to all queries:

I applied on 5th oct by post . still waiting to receive the surrender certificate. I have enclosed a self addresed envelope(with app. stamp) also. They only ask for active passport, not a passport which has already been cancelled by HCI. they don't send the passport back, therefore you should photocopy the passport before sending. Yes, you need to send postal order not banker's draft. You don't need to attest the photocopies.

I hope I have answered all your queries.

Applied on 12.10.09 for surrender certificate with the following documents
Orginal Indian Passport
Photocopy of Indian passport
Photocopy of Bristish Passport
Photocopy of naturalization certificate
Crossed postal order for £90
Recorded self addressed return envelope

cheers

Applied on 12.10.09 for surrender certificate
Recieved on 26.10.09
Applied OCI 26.10.09

hi all
a quick update, after trying for couple of days, finally today i was able to get through OCI officer, but with no good results, i could not get any information from them, as they kept saying we have too many applications, please call back after few days

I have submited application on 26thOct by post with a photocopy of surrender certificate

its really painful and frustrating..after trying for days and in the end you get no proper answer

cheers

You are wasting ur time on the phone with them. you have to go there to get any information. I went there today to hand in a copy of the application after the officer forgot to take the second copy last week.

Met guys there who had the surrendering done in 2 days - SC in their hand. The officer who handled my aplication was actually a nice lady and took time to answer any questions i had - told me it was a long wait for OCI as they have and I quote "OCI applications coming out their ears". She told me it is a 3 month plus wait at the moment.
On my way out I met some guys collecting their OCIs. They had applied in August and a one guy sometime in July. Also I was told by the agent if handed in by person the application is processed quicker as their mail is the last thing that is opened. With all this in mind I expect mine in January / February 2010 having applied late OCTOBER.

[punjabi boy]

Question for all........
If someone is applying for a OCI on the basis of their parent/grandparents Indian Citizen status does the passport still need to be surrendered?. After all this passport would not belong to the applicant.

I ask this because I have just applied on this basis and nothing was said to me to surrender her passport or anything of the like. Yet a few applicants in front of me who were applying on the basis of themselves holding Indian Passport were told they would have to first surrender their passport and get the Surrender Certificate - their application were NOT accepted until this had been done and the Surrender Certificate submitted.

[northumboy]

All,

can some one please clarify my situation?

I just received my British passport and the next step woulld be to obtain SC and apply for OCI.

Can some one tell me if i have to travel to India while my OCI is in process, how can i do it? as i would have surendered my indian passport by then.

Thanks

[punjabi boy]

on your brit pp

[northumboy]

I mean i would need a visa to travel to India while my OCI is in process, so during the process should a obtain a normal visit visa to india?

[RAJ2007]

even to get a normal visit visa you need SC first. they will not issue visa until you provide SC.

[SidB]

even to get a normal visit visa you need SC first. they will not issue visa until you provide SC.

Yes, I have heard the same. You are better off gettting a long term visa (5 years) but you need a surrender certificate before you can apply for one. I could see this requirement on the VFS website.

[SidB]

All,

Update on my surrender certificate application

I sent a request for my surrender certificate by post on Monday last week by special delivery. It reached the embassy by Tuesday. I was expecting a two week turnaround by the embassy.

To my surprise, I have my surrender certificate with me already. It arrived this morning by special delivery (in my pre-paid envelope) so must have been dispatched by the embassy yesterday. They have basically turned it around in a week.

The spellings etc are all fine too.

Going by my experience, I would advise anyone to apply for SC by post. I am working Mon-Fri and doing it this way has saved me 2 visits to the embassy not to mention the hassle of queuing in the cold.

[punjabi boy]

reply to all queries:

They only ask for active passport, not a passport which has already been cancelled by HCI.

Not true you have to surrender ALL passports including ones already cancelled. Read notice on their website.
They basically want ALL Indian passports out there handed back to make the £90

[SidB]

reply to all queries:

They only ask for active passport, not a passport which has already been cancelled by HCI.

Not true you have to surrender ALL passports including ones already cancelled. Read notice on their website.
They basically want ALL Indian passports out there handed back to make the £90

All - There is a subtle techicality here if you want to pick on it. The notice says:
"In view of this legal provision all foreign nationals of Indian origin applying for Indian visa, OCI/PIO card or other consular services are required to surrender their Indian passports (valid/Expired) to the High Commission of India, London "

It is asking for valid/expired passports. You can by extension include cancelled passports but the notice doesn't specifically ask for that. I am sure everyone can interpret that in different ways. At the end of the day, the key point is to get a surrender certificate. If you have that, you should be safe.

[punjabi boy]

reply to all queries:

They only ask for active passport, not a passport which has already been cancelled by HCI.

Not true you have to surrender ALL passports including ones already cancelled. Read notice on their website.
They basically want ALL Indian passports out there handed back to make the £90

All - There is a subtle techicality here if you want to pick on it. The notice says:
"In view of this legal provision all foreign nationals of Indian origin applying for Indian visa, OCI/PIO card or other consular services are required to surrender their Indian passports (valid/Expired) to the High Commission of India, London "

It is asking for valid/expired passports. You can by extension include cancelled passports but the notice doesn't specifically ask for that. I am sure everyone can interpret that in different ways. At the end of the day, the key point is to get a surrender certificate. If you have that, you should be safe.

SidB
if someone is applying for OCI on basis of their parents/grandparents bein Indian Citizens in past would they want SC for those passports too?....I hope i have not handed them £165 and stand to lose it. The officer took the moeny and gave me a FILE NUMBER 2 weeks ago.
Any ideas?

[hk_007]

The surrender certificate process seems to working quite efficiently.
I send my passports (valid and canceled) through post (special delivery) on a Wednesday and got the certificate the next wednesday via special delivery using the envelope that I had enclosed. Fee was paid using British Postal Order.
Cost: Fees - £90, Postal order commission - £10, 2xSpecial delivery-£10.80 Total cost: £110.80

Now for the OCI challenge

[hk_007]

All - There is a subtle techicality here if you want to pick on it. The notice says:
"In view of this legal provision all foreign nationals of Indian origin applying for Indian visa, OCI/PIO card or other consular services are required to surrender their Indian passports (valid/Expired) to the High Commission of India, London "

It is asking for valid/expired passports. You can by extension include canceled passports but the notice doesn't specifically ask for that. I am sure everyone can interpret that in different ways. At the end of the day, the key point is to get a surrender certificate. If you have that, you should be safe.

This is in fact the inherent problem with the information that HCI provide - it ambiguous and lacks clarity which means the person assessing your application can make his own interpretation. Particularly, if you are applying by post it is better to take most conservative interpretation (that is what I did and surrendered both my valid and canceled Indian passports) to avoid unnecessary delays - there is more to life than wasting time with babucrats!!

[punjabi boy]

All - There is a subtle techicality here if you want to pick on it. The notice says:
"In view of this legal provision all foreign nationals of Indian origin applying for Indian visa, OCI/PIO card or other consular services are required to surrender their Indian passports (valid/Expired) to the High Commission of India, London "

It is asking for valid/expired passports. You can by extension include canceled passports but the notice doesn't specifically ask for that. I am sure everyone can interpret that in different ways. At the end of the day, the key point is to get a surrender certificate. If you have that, you should be safe.

This is in fact is the inherent problem with the information that HCI provide - it ambiguous and lacks clarity which means the person assessing your application can make his own interpretation. Particularly, if you are applying by post it is better to take most conservative interpretation (that is what I did and surrendered both my valid and canceled Indian passports) to avoid unnecessary delays - there is more to life than wasting time with babucrats!!

On my visit Monday 9th November they wanted ALL passports including cancelled. Witnessed some flare-ups due to website not being clear

[tech]

Some of them got surrender certificate only by submitting current passport even though they had 2 or more cancelled passports.
It is down to the person and its mood on that day. Carry everything you have and hand over anything that requested.

[RAJ2007]

punjabi boy,
you need to submit only the last active passport not the cancelled ones. I never said you need to submit the cancelled one.

[punjabi boy]

punjabi boy,
you need to submit only the last active passport not the cancelled ones. I never said you need to submit the cancelled one.

Not when i was at HCI london earlier this week . They wanted Cancelled passports as well. I saw few aaplicants in front of me turned away to the PAssport Surrender Desk to get a SC before they will accept a OCI application.
My question was if someone is applying for OCI on the basis of their parents/grandparents Indian PAssport would they want that too handed in?

I ask because i have applied on this basis and am now afraid they have taken the £165 and nothiong will happen

[alampal]

Can somone who has made an application recently share the timeframe in which you are given a File Number and how they give / communicate it to you?

The phones are non reachable.

I sent in my application by post and seomhow i managed to get a reply which says..
''Please note that it takes 4 to 5 weeks to acknowledge a postal OCI application. It is part of the total processing time of 8 to 12 weeks.
Your application is being processed and you can see the progress at each stage through online status enquiry.''

I thought you need a File(Acknowledgement ) number to see the progress at this site..https://passport.gov.in/oci/OnlineOCIenquiry.jsp