Confused about Indian Visa, PIO/OCI after British passport

[ukbalaji]

Apologies if it is the wrong forum.

I got naturalized as a British citizen couple of weeks ago, and have now applied for a British passport. My British passport should hopefully arrive in the next few weeks, after which I guess I am supposed to surrender my Indian passport. I am not clear on the proper sequence of steps to be followed : getting Indian visa / surrender old Indian passport / obtaining PIO/OCI card.

Right now I cannot travel to India (legally) since I am awaiting my British passport and automatically lost my Indian citizenship. But I wish to get my papers organized soon, so that I can travel to India at short notice if necessary. I would like to get the OCI card, but I am not sure how long it is taking these days to get it at the Indian embassy in London. If it takes 3 months, I am not sure I want to stay that long without being able to travel to India if necessary. Altho I dont have any immediate travel plans, I want to keep the travel option open.

My friend in the US was advising me to go ahead and get the PIO card soon (which apparently takes only 1 week in the US), and then apply for the OCI card, the advantage being that I will not need to hand over my passport to the Indian embassy until the very end of the OCI application process. Not sure if this is true, tho'. Is this a good idea ?

By the way, will I still need an Indian visa stamp even if I get the PIO / OCI card ?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Cheers

[geriatrix]

1. Surrender Indian passport
2. Apply for Indian visa (if need to travel at short notice) and/or apply for OCI / PIO card.


regards

[keshgrover]

Apologies if it is the wrong forum.

I got naturalized as a British citizen couple of weeks ago, and have now applied for a British passport. My British passport should hopefully arrive in the next few weeks, after which I guess I am supposed to surrender my Indian passport. I am not clear on the proper sequence of steps to be followed : getting Indian visa / surrender old Indian passport / obtaining PIO/OCI card.

Right now I cannot travel to India (legally) since I am awaiting my British passport and automatically lost my Indian citizenship. But I wish to get my papers organized soon, so that I can travel to India at short notice if necessary. I would like to get the OCI card, but I am not sure how long it is taking these days to get it at the Indian embassy in London. If it takes 3 months, I am not sure I want to stay that long without being able to travel to India if necessary. Altho I dont have any immediate travel plans, I want to keep the travel option open.

My friend in the US was advising me to go ahead and get the PIO card soon (which apparently takes only 1 week in the US), and then apply for the OCI card, the advantage being that I will not need to hand over my passport to the Indian embassy until the very end of the OCI application process. Not sure if this is true, tho'. Is this a good idea ?

By the way, will I still need an Indian visa stamp even if I get the PIO / OCI card ?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Cheers

Congratulations. You need to surrender your Indian passport first at HCI london. Which is whole one day process. You go back after couple of days and waste another day to collect your surrender certificate. Once you done with this either you can apply for a Indian visa or OCI card. Visa's are dealt by VFS these days at different locations. I applied for 5 years long visa and costed my £180 all together. Dont forget that you will also be ripped off with a passport surrender fee of £90 when you surrender your passport.

That's what my experience was with my application.

[geriatrix]

By the way, will I still need an Indian visa stamp even if I get the PIO / OCI card ?

No.

regards

[ukbalaji]

Thanks for the response, everyone.

Any idea how long the PIO / OCI card process takes these days ? That might help me make a decision.

If I want peace of mind, there doesnt seem to be much difference cost-wise. A PIO card (£215) followed by OCI (£18) would cost a total of £233. A 6-month "entry visa" (http://in.vfsglobal.co.uk/visa-fees.aspx) (£55) followed by OCI (£165) would set me back £220. The latter might be preferable if I can get the visa in a day.

How does it work tho', if one has obtained a visa, and then their OCI application is being processed, but they need to travel urgently to India ? Will the consulate return the passport quickly so the person can travel ? where is the passport held ? Is it in the U.K or in Delhi ? do they keep it for the entire duration of the OCI application process ? does it make a difference if one already has a PIO card ? As I mentioned above, my friend was suggesting that if you apply for an OCI after getting the PIO, then you hand over your passport only at the last step of the OCI application process, apparently. I am not sure where to verify this, tho'.

Cheers.

[geriatrix]

Any idea how long the PIO / OCI card process takes these days ? That might help me make a decision.

Reading this topic should give you an idea on timelines.

The latter might be preferable if I can get the visa in a day.

One day!! Remember you are dealing with an Indian govt. dept.

How does it work tho', if one has obtained a visa, and then their OCI application is being processed, but they need to travel urgently to India ? Will the consulate return the passport quickly so the person can travel ? where is the passport held ? Is it in the U.K or in Delhi ? do they keep it for the entire duration of the OCI application process ? does it make a difference if one already has a PIO card ? As I mentioned above, my friend was suggesting that if you apply for an OCI after getting the PIO, then you hand over your passport only at the last step of the OCI application process, apparently. I am not sure where to verify this, tho'.

Reading this and this should help you understand the application process.


regards

[mrlookforward]

Thanks for the response, everyone.

Any idea how long the PIO / OCI card process takes these days ? That might help me make a decision.

If I want peace of mind, there doesnt seem to be much difference cost-wise. A PIO card (£215) followed by OCI (£18) would cost a total of £233. A 6-month "entry visa" (http://in.vfsglobal.co.uk/visa-fees.aspx) (£55) followed by OCI (£165) would set me back £220. The latter might be preferable if I can get the visa in a day.

How does it work tho', if one has obtained a visa, and then their OCI application is being processed, but they need to travel urgently to India ? Will the consulate return the passport quickly so the person can travel ? where is the passport held ? Is it in the U.K or in Delhi ? do they keep it for the entire duration of the OCI application process ? does it make a difference if one already has a PIO card ? As I mentioned above, my friend was suggesting that if you apply for an OCI after getting the PIO, then you hand over your passport only at the last step of the OCI application process, apparently. I am not sure where to verify this, tho'.

Cheers.

You have to surrender you Indian passport to either HCI London or one of the Consulate generals depending on which county you live in.
When you go to surrender your passport, you have to pay £90 pounds. Do not forget to submit a self addressed special delivery envelope. They will post you the surrender certificate and this will save you making another trip just to collect the surrender certificate.
Now whenever you apply for Indian visa, you will have to submit a photocopy of this surrender certificate.

To apply for OCI the procedure is first to apply online, then take that printout and other documents to HCI. Please note, that they do not retain any originals documents at all. So if you have to travel, you can apply for OCI, then obtain a visit visa to INDIA, or anywhere else in the world for that matter, while the OCI process goes on, and this takes about 12 weeks.

Have a read here http://hcilondon.in/oci.php

[llNicell]

Thanks for the response, everyone.

Any idea how long the PIO / OCI card process takes these days ? That might help me make a decision.

If I want peace of mind, there doesnt seem to be much difference cost-wise. A PIO card (£215) followed by OCI (£18) would cost a total of £233. A 6-month "entry visa" (http://in.vfsglobal.co.uk/visa-fees.aspx) (£55) followed by OCI (£165) would set me back £220. The latter might be preferable if I can get the visa in a day.

How does it work tho', if one has obtained a visa, and then their OCI application is being processed, but they need to travel urgently to India ? Will the consulate return the passport quickly so the person can travel ? where is the passport held ? Is it in the U.K or in Delhi ? do they keep it for the entire duration of the OCI application process ? does it make a difference if one already has a PIO card ? As I mentioned above, my friend was suggesting that if you apply for an OCI after getting the PIO, then you hand over your passport only at the last step of the OCI application process, apparently. I am not sure where to verify this, tho'.

Cheers.

I had applied for OCI and it took 10 weeks to finally get into our hands. Our application was without any issue.
I had applied for OCI and meantime traveled to India on tourist visa.
You don't need to submit any original documents with OCI application and you have to keep your British passport with you until your OCI is ready for collection.
You will be required to surrender your Indian passport in any case.

[ukbalaji]

Thanks again to everyone for the replies. Much appreciated.

Regards

[ukbalaji]

While surrending the Indian passport (that has become invalid), do I also need to surrender the older (cancelled) Indian passport(s) ? Or, do I need to only surrender the last one ?

Also, I suppose I dont need to make an appointment to surrender the passport ? is it just walk-in, assuming I have all the necessary materials ? I hope I havent missed anything in the list of items below.

*) £90 cash
*) Self addressed special delivery envelope
*) As per http://hcilondon.in/applicationform.pdf, below items
*) photocopy of British passport (all pages)
*) Photocopy of last Indian passport (I will make copies of all pages just in case)
*) The actual Indian passport (last one)
*) copy of British naturalization certificate.
*) wondering if I should also carry my previous cancelled Indian passports

Cheers.

[pushpanathan]

I see a link to obtain the timeline for processing a PIO, but couldn't get the information there. Could someone please advise approximate time frame as i have a similar requirement as ukbalaji. thanks

[vid_k]

Hello,

Got the British Passport recently and looking at the options to surrender the Indian Passport and apply for an OCI card.

I know not to surrender the Indian passport is illegal - but is this a punishable offence?

Call me cheeky - but can we not always travel on our Indian passport when travelling to India and use the British passport when travelling to anywhere else.

I mean - who is to know whether citizen of India residing outside India has a passport from another country.

Thanks

Vid

[PG1983]

It is a punishable offence to travel on an Indian passport after acquiring Foreign citizenship. I think it is about £145 fine for each time you travel.

[vid_k]

But my question is how would anyone know that we have 2 passports?

[ukmalayalee]

Can you travel with PIO after Dec 31? This is what Indian High Commission & India Govt said
http://x

[noajthan]

Can you travel with PIO after Dec 31? This is what Indian High Commission & India Govt said
http://x

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