Nationality Application + New Indian Passport

[bblb]

I have applied for Naturalisation as a British Citizen in October and have only last week had an acknowledgement letter. My Indian passport has expired and I have an urgent need to travel in March. Therefore, I asked the Home Office to return my passport and have now received it back.

Today I went to give my Indian Passport for renewal and they sent me back with another form to fill in. The form asks me to give my authority to the Indian Consulate to enquire from the Immigration & Nationalit Directorate if I have acquired British Nationality by registration or naturalisation.

Will the Home Office inform the Indian Consulate that I have applied for Naturalisation? If they do, will this mean I am unable to renew my Indian Passport? After all I have only applied and not acquired my British Nationality.

I would really appreciate it if someone has been in a similar situation and can give me some help here.

[lemess]

No it should not make any difference. Firstly applying for naturalisation does not mean you will be successful and secondly even if your application is approved you do not become a British citizen till you fomally take the oath. Till that time you are an Indian citizen and entitled to an indian passport. All the Indian HC wants to know is whether you are a british citizen when you are applying for an Indian passport - and you clearly are not. Applying for naturalisation does not remove your Indian citizenship or entitlement to an Indian passport and neither is it a crime.
It is the act of taking the oath as a British citizen that formally signifies the end to your Indian citizenship and thus your entitlement to a passport.

If the Indian HC ask the IND if you are a British citizen the answer will have to be no till you swear allegiance and receive your naturalisation certificate. When you do that is totally upto you - you have 90 days from the date of your naturalisation approval to do that.

You should not have any problems.

[rogerroger]

that is logically speaking, but the babus in the high commision might think differently.

if you are applying at the indian high commision,london and if you get stuck, may i recommend talking to Mr. Mondal(passport officer), he is quite helpful

[lemess]

I doubt it. I think the only think the babus can ask the IND is whether someone has acquired british nationality or not. The answer to that is clearly no. This is simply a request for a statement of fact.

I can't see any reason why the IND would actually share the fact that someone has made a naturalisation application with them - not even sure they are allowed to that by law.

And finally this is not something the babus have any discretion with. The fact is that till you are an indian citizen you have an entitlement to an Indian passport - whatever a babu may or may not say. They cannot refuse to give you a passport on the grounds of having applied for naturalisation. There is nothing in the rules allowing them to do that.

[bblb]

that is logically speaking, but the babus in the high commision might think differently.

if you are applying at the indian high commision,london and if you get stuck, may i recommend talking to Mr. Mondal(passport officer), he is quite helpful

Im applying at the Birmingham Consulate.

[rogerroger]

And finally this is not something the babus have any discretion with. The fact is that till you are an indian citizen you have an entitlement to an Indian passport - whatever a babu may or may not say. They cannot refuse to give you a passport on the grounds of having applied for naturalisation. There is nothing in the rules allowing them to do that.

tell that to the babus!!

[lemess]

tell that to the babus!!

is your scepticism based on an actual experience ? The babus can do many things but they can't invent law. Till you are an Indian citizen you are entitled to an Indian passport - end of story. Secondly, as I said I seriously doubt if the IND is allowed to share a pending naturalisation application with any non government agencies. What it can reasonably confirm is whether someone is or isn't british that's all. And that's all the Indian HC is allowed to ask them.

[rogerroger]

yep it is based on actual experience.

i agree that the IND will confirm if the person is/is not naturalised

[bblb]

The form the Indian Consulate has given me is basically a letter that they will forward to the IND giving a few of my details, such as name, DOB, place of birth, parents names, and asks them whether or not this person has "acquired British Nationality by registration or naturalisation".

So based on what you guys are saying I should be okay and the IND will tell them that I have not acquired Nationality and my passport renewal should go through okay?

Thanks again guys, I have booked my flights for March and am terribly worried that I may not get my passport. They did say that I will get my passport in three weeks if all the documents they ask for are submitted.

Another thing that is annoying me is that on their website it says I only need to fill in this consent form for the IND if my passport expired over one year ago. It only expired in December 2005, so i will probably try and argue this point before giving them the form.

[bblb]

Does anybody else have a similar experience?

Any advice?