Indian passport surrender question

[insomniac]

Hi,

This is more of a peeve that a genuine problem, but...

A friend of mine was thinking of optimising the waiting period for the OCI by applying for the British passport (post naturalisation) and surrendering her Indian passport simultaneously, since you normally receive the original documents back within 2-3 days when making the British passport application.

However, the requirements for the Surrender Certificate on VFS state that she needs to submit:
- Current Indian passport
- Naturalisation certificate
- British/foreign passport

The first two make sense, but the third makes no sense at all. The VFS website clearly states that "The date on the Naturalisation Certificate will be treated as date of acquiring foreign nationality and not from the date the British Passport was issued."

So why on earth do they need the British passport if by their own interpretation, the sole proof of critizenship is the naturalisation certificate?

In other words, if one doesn't apply for a British/foreign passport, he/she can't surrender the Indian passport even though it's no longer a valid travel document?

One gets the feeling that some of this stuff hasn't been reasoned through very well.

Any thoughts?

PS - It's probably not a wise thing to do anyway, since you'd leave yourself without any passport at all for the sake of a couple weeks waiting. In an emergency, you can always travel on the Indian passport and cough up the penalty later.

[need_a_tier1]

Just to correct you: One gets the feeling that none of this stuff hasn't been reasoned through very well.

Actually, after Naturalization it is up to the individual to apply for a British passport or not. But, looks like VFS have not thought about this point at all.

Why on earth do they need the foreign passport as well?

I am in the same boat and have been waiting for my passport interview and should hopefully receive my passport soon after that.

I did not surrender (or tried to surrender) the India passport before getting the British passport sue to the same resaons started by you.

[need_a_tier1]

From: http://in.vfsglobal.co.uk/surrender_checklist.html

Documents Required for Surrender of Indian Passports

Duly filled application form
Original Indian Passport (Last/Valid Indian passport at the time of Naturalization)
Self attested photocopy of Indian passport (Used Pages)
Self attested photocopy of British / Foreign Passport
Self attested photocopy of British / Foreign Naturalisation certificate
If the applicant is born in UK /abroad and obtained foreign/British Nationality on the basis of Birth in the country and not by naturalisation then applicant is required to provide a photocopy of the full Birth Certificate.
Applicant’s applying under Deemed Surrender Certificate category are required to submit the photocopy of the last Indian passport and first British passport in addition to the above applicable documents.