India's OCI/PIO card, British passport et al.

[Johnnycomelately]

- deleted -

[geriatrix]

Moved to the relevant forum as the queries are more to do with Indian immigration laws than with British citizenship.

British passport
You may choose to never apply for a British passport.


Indian immigration
1. You must surrender an Indian passport within 3 months of acquiring foreign citizenship.
2. You lose Indian citizenship the day you acquire foreign nationality. Travelling using an Indian passport upon acquiring foreign citizenship is also unlawful and attracts monetary penalty for every trip you make after 3 months of acquiring foreign citizenship. Repeat offences may attract jail sentence.
3. You'll be using an illegal document (invalid Indian passport) to enter UK - leave alone an invalid ILR vignette. And may be detained / jailed / treated as the law dictates - in such a scenario.

Also, using an Indian passport as an identity document after one has acquired foreign nationality and claiming to be an Indian citizen after such date is a criminal offence.

[Jambo]

A passport is merely a travel document you are entitled to as a citizen. Holding or not holding a passport doesn't affect your citizenship. Some people might never travel and never hold a passport but they are still citizens.

Once you acquire British citizenship, you lose your Indian citizenship and you need to surrender your Indian passport. It doesn't matter if you apply for British passport or not. You stop being Indian citizen and as a consequence of that, the Indian authorities require you to surrender the passport as you are not entitled to it any more.

As a British citizen, you have the right to move back to the UK any time you wish. If you do not hold a valid British passport, it will be difficult for you to prove your right but it is still you right. You just need to apply for a British passport to prove it (or other forms of evidence such as Right of Abode stamp in foreign passport).

[Johnnycomelately]

Sushdmehta's quote:

Indian immigration
1. You must surrender an Indian passport within 3 months of acquiring foreign citizenship.
2. You lose Indian citizenship the day you acquire foreign nationality. Travelling using an Indian passport upon acquiring foreign citizenship is also unlawful and attracts monetary penalty for every trip you make after 3 months of acquiring foreign citizenship. Repeat offences may attract jail sentence.
3. You'll be using an illegal document (invalid Indian passport) to enter UK - leave alone an invalid ILR vignette. And may be detained / jailed / treated as the law dictates - in such a scenario.

Also, using an Indian passport as an identity document after one has acquired foreign nationality and claiming to be an Indian citizen after such date is a criminal offence.

Point 1 of your reply - Assumption - Dual-citizenship is not around the corner anytime soon.

Point 3 of your reply and the para below: You made your point under point no.3. But by making the same point ('offence' etc) repeatedly - in point 3 and again in the para below it, it appears you are getting personal and it also appears, taking an almost perverse delight in using such words in your reply. It's not what you wrote but the way you wrote it that is so crude and offensive.

I have always maintained India would be a true superpower when Indian start respecting fellow Indians. 200 years of Brit Raj has left some Indians (or people of Indian origin) in a permanent 'Dhimmi' as well as in a state of permanent inferiority complex, where they use every opportunity available to try to belittle a fellow Indian in any way possible....

SushdMehta, look at your 'over the top' response to a standard/routine query (the way you have gone about answering it). I am thoroughly disappointed with the underlying vindictive/acidic tone in your reply. Look at Jambo's decent/courteous response, as compared to your rather uncouth response. I am also sorry to hear you feel this way about fellow Indians....that you have to resort to such crude replies to queries of fellow Indians posting on this forum.

I hope you would now at least show the basic courtesy/decency of letting my reply to your post stand and not misuse your power as a Mod. to edit or delete my response.

One more thing: I take deep offence in the way you have gone about replying to my query. I am deleting my original post and reporting you to the owners of workpermit.com and would also not post any more on this forum in the future.

[geriatrix]

It is beyond me on how stating factual information can be misconstrued as being offensive. And just because I used the word "offence" twice and explained what you must do / must not do - in accordance with law!! Perhaps the details got to you.

[vinny]

The Indian Citizenship Act, 1955, does not allow dual citizenship. 

Holding Indian passport/acquiring Indian passport/travelling on Indian passport after acquisition of foreign citizenship constitutes an offence under the Indian Passport Act, 1967, and attracts penalties.  The Government of India has prescribed imposition of penalty on a graded scale for the violation of Passport Rules, depending on number of trips made on Indian passport after acquiring foreign nationality (with a three month grace period from the date of acquiring foreign nationality i.e. the date of Naturalisation certificate), renewal of Indian passport after acquiring foreign nationality and retention of Indian Passport for more than 3 years after acquiring of foreign nationality. The date on the Naturalisation Certificate will be treated as date of acquiring foreign nationality and hence, it is mandatory for the applicants to produce his / her Naturalisation Certificate for obtaining Surrender Certificate.

[osteophytes]

Moved to the relevant forum as the queries are more to do with Indian immigration laws than with British citizenship.

British passport
You may choose to never apply for a British passport.


Indian immigration
1. You must surrender an Indian passport within 3 months of acquiring foreign citizenship.
2. You lose Indian citizenship the day you acquire foreign nationality. Travelling using an Indian passport upon acquiring foreign citizenship is also unlawful and attracts monetary penalty for every trip you make after 3 months of acquiring foreign citizenship. Repeat offences may attract jail sentence.
3. You'll be using an illegal document (invalid Indian passport) to enter UK - leave alone an invalid ILR vignette. And may be detained / jailed / treated as the law dictates - in such a scenario.

Also, using an Indian passport as an identity document after one has acquired foreign nationality and claiming to be an Indian citizen after such date is a criminal offence.

Is there a link that you can provide which says that one can be imprisoned for using Indian passport after acquiring foreign passport? As far as I know there are monetary penalties and there is no mention of imprisonment in the link provided by Vinny.

And - there are no reports of people being detained (or JAILED) in UK for trying to enter with a foreign passport after acquiring British citizenship. There are a few users who shared their experiences about entering UK after naturalisation with foreign passports with out any problem. http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... 5812b94154

Any links that support your assumptions would be appreciated

[Johnnycomelately]

To,
The owners of Workpermit.com

Please note SushdMehta's repeated posts on this matter in issue may amount to harassment under the 'Prevention of Harassment Act 1997'.

SushdMehta, I warned you that your repeated posts here may amount to harassment, which is an offence under the Act. This is your final opportunity to cease unwarranted posts before I draw your actions to the attention of the Police and consider pursuing measures available to me at law.

There may also arise a possibility of 'Vicarious Liability' for the owners of workpermit.com on this matter in issue.

[vinny]

Is there a link that you can provide which says that one can be imprisoned for using Indian passport after acquiring foreign passport? As far as I know there are monetary penalties and there is no mention of imprisonment in the link provided by Vinny.

12. Offences and penalties


8[(1A) Whoever, not being a citizen of India,-

(a) makes an application for a passport or obtains a passport by suppressing information about in nationality, or

(b) holds a forged passport or any travel document, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year but may extend to five years and with fine which shall not be less than ten thousand rupees but which may extend to fifty thousand rupees] or with both.

[osteophytes]

Is there a link that you can provide which says that one can be imprisoned for using Indian passport after acquiring foreign passport? As far as I know there are monetary penalties and there is no mention of imprisonment in the link provided by Vinny.

12. Offences and penalties


8[(1A) Whoever, not being a citizen of India,-

(a) makes an application for a passport or obtains a passport by suppressing information about in nationality, or

(b) holds a forged passport or any travel document, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year but may extend to five years and with fine which shall not be less than ten thousand rupees but which may extend to fifty thousand rupees] or with both.

Thanks for the link. But these are slightly different circumstances to what we are discussing here. I don't think any one here mentioned using forged passports or applying for passport again. It is about using the current passport after acquiring BC. I don't think that is some thing which will be punishable by imprisonment! I know at least 3 people (all elderly people) who used their Indian passport for few years and all they had to do was pay the maximum penalty i.e 50000 rupees fine.