Travel advice to India and OCI new registration

[krish1989]

Hi,

I have a couple of questions. Firstly,

My son is 2 years old and originally had an Indian passport. He later got registered as a British Citizen and has British Citizenship now. I have not been able to apply for OCI yet.

He is due to travel to India on 06/12/2016 for a period of 2 months. I have therefore booked an appointment for the 28/11 to apply for Indian tourist Visa for him (as on e-tv you can only stay in India for a month). The tourist visa I have taken the appointment for lets you stay for 6 months.

1. The processing times shown on the VFS website (for rest of cases where not a national of other Asian countries) is 3 to 5 working days. And I have a week between 28/11 and 06/12 which is the date of the travel. can you please let me know if indeed the processing time for Indian tourist visa is less than a week.

2. I would also like to apply for OCI in the meanwhile so that by the time my son comes back to the UK, we can have the OCI ready? or can we apply for his OCI from India? If yes, does anyone know the processing time of OCI application from India?

Thanks a lot for your help on this.
Krish

[rmukherjee]

1. The processing times shown on the VFS website (for rest of cases where not a national of other Asian countries) is 3 to 5 working days. And I have a week between 28/11 and 06/12 which is the date of the travel. can you please let me know if indeed the processing time for Indian tourist visa is less than a week.

When I applied under similar circumstances I got it around 5 working days. When you go to VFS do stress that you need it quickly, they may be able to assist. However a lot will depend on how busy things are now.

2. I would also like to apply for OCI in the meanwhile so that by the time my son comes back to the UK, we can have the OCI ready? or can we apply for his OCI from India? If yes, does anyone know the processing time of OCI application from India?

Probably a lot better to do the OCI from here than in India as the process is a lot better defined in terms of interaction with VFS (with online status etc). If any one has experience with the Indian process please shout.

You definitely can get the paperwork ready and try for the first application. (For the first visit they mainly look at the surrender certificate, although they may want to cast an eye on the UK passport - that could be an issue if your son is in India). If you do apply here, apply around 2 weeks after your son has gone to India. That way there's a high chance that when it's time for the 2nd visit to VFS, for which the passport is required, he'll be back here.