There is one major discrepancy between what the HCI London website states, and what actually happens at the embassy!
You CANNOT submit your OCI application and application to surrender the passport at the same time!! (although the website says you can apply for OCI even if you haven’t received your surrender certificate, as they will check it before they stamp the OCI sticker in your passport after 8 weeks!) You have to first surrender certificate and once you receive it, only then can you apply for the OCI!
So that’s 4 trips in total.
![Mad :x](./images/smilies/icon_mad.gif)
1. To surrender the passport (between 08:30 – 12pm)
2. To collect the certificate (between 15:30 – 16:30)
3. To submit OCI application (between 08:30 – 12pm)
4. To collect OCI card (have to queue up in the morning to collect
token, submit your British passport), and then queue up in the
evening to collect your British passport and the OCI card!
All ex-Indians, who now hold a British passport/Citizenship, MUST surrender their Indian passport to the HCI closest to you.
1) If you don't have an Indian passport, and if it has expired by now (if you would have possessed it), you need to get a notarised affidavit done AND pay the £90 for the surrender certificate! The notarised affidavit can be made at your local court or through a solicitor, which might cost you under £100.
2) ) If you don't have an Indian passport, and if it has NOT expired by now (if you would have possessed it), you need to get a notarised affidavit done AND get a police report/incident number AND pay the £90 for the surrender certificate! The notarised affidavit can be made at your local court or through a solicitor, which might cost you under £100.
3) If you have your Indian passport, include your Indian passport and lots of photocopies AND pay the £90 to get the surrender certificate.
4) Please surrender your Indian passport as soon as feasible. The penalty gets worse! For information, check out the information in the table below (Scroll to the bottom of the page)
http://www.cgibirmingham.org/consrvcs.htm
All the above SHOULD be accompanied by a Surrender Certificate Application form, which can be found at http://www.cgiedinburgh.org/PassportAnd ... ices.shtml (highlighted in orange-yellow after the first paragraph). I could not find this on HCI London’s website, or maybe it is was as obscure as the information on that site!!
NOTE: Surrendering of the passport MUST be done in person at the HCI closest to you. You MAY ask them to return it by post, provided you give a self-addressed envelope (not sure about this, please check with the lady at the counter).
5) If you are not applying for an OCI or PIO, but just an Indian tourist visa as a British National, if you are an ex-Indian, then you will have to show a copy of your surrender certificate BEFORE you get the visa issued! You may ask – I’m a British citizen, and I am entitled to a Indian tourist visa just like every foreign visitor, so why ask for a surrender certificate?? Answer is – your Indian tourist visa application form will ask the question – What is your previous nationality? – and once you answer “Indianâ€