Got US citizenship.What to do with Indian passport? And OCI or PIO card next?

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robbie

Registered Users (C)
I'm now a US citizen. Had a few questions:

1. I have heard you need to officially cancel your Indian passport after getting US citizenship. Where do I do this? How? Can this be done by mail or have to do in-person?

2. I would like get a "green card" equivalent for India. Is OCI the right one to get? Or is it PIO card? What are pros/cons? How long does it take to get?

3. What should you do if you have a bank account in India? Do you need to inform them that you are now as USC? Also, does the OCI card or PIO card allow you to own property in India?

Thank you very much.
 
1. cancel your passport when you apply for a visa to go to India. You include your Indian passport in yoru application package. The consulate will cancel the passport ,say, by cutting off a corner of it
 
robbie said:
I'm now a US citizen. Had a few questions:

3. What should you do if you have a bank account in India? Do you need to inform them that you are now as USC? Also, does the OCI card or PIO card allow you to own property in India?
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Indian banks are now asking a lot of questions and the paperwork was too much. Plus, IRS paperwork is needed for offshore accounts. I decided not to pursue the Indian green card -- I go occasionally for a few days and the visa does the job for me -- so I am not sure if the paperwork is easier with the banks in that case, but in reality I simply use my ATM card in India to get rupees out and I hand it over to my family. For large sums, I hand over a US bank check to them and they deposit it in their bank and a few weeks later they get the rupees. Really simple for me because I HATE doing paperwork with the Indians. I left India to escape the bureaucracy and the last thing I want to do is to become a victim of that now.
 
Yeah but if you have accounts and property you ought to get oci. I also wouldn't worry about informing the banks there of your new citizenship. If you have a pan card you can go about your business for now as if nothing has changed and unless you're hiding millions from the IRS you won't have problems.
 
Hi. Does anyone have any experience with renouncing Indian citizenship while visiting India. I am just trying to avoid the $250 penalty charged by the missions here in the US. If so, where (in Chennai) can I go and surrender the passport and cert a surrender cert? And what are the fees associated with this? Thanks.
 
You can't go to India on your Indian passport. It's illegal. Forget about it.

Now, the $250 penalty is only incurred if you do NOT surrender citizenship within 3 years of naturalising. Are you doing this? If not, it's just $175. Don't forget that each time you misuse the passport after naturalising, like you would do by going to India, you'd be charged $250 upto $1250.
 
cafeconleche said:
You can't go to India on your Indian passport. It's illegal. Forget about it.

Now, the $250 penalty is only incurred if you do NOT surrender citizenship within 3 years of naturalising. Are you doing this? If not, it's just $175. Don't forget that each time you misuse the passport after naturalising, like you would do by going to India, you'd be charged $250 upto $1250.
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Just to be clear, I will be entering India with my US passport and OCI. Now, I would like to surrender my Indian passport and get a surrender cert while in India. Is that possible. In my case, I got my US citizenship back in 2008 and I got my OCI done at that time as well. So, now its well over 5 years, so the $250 penalty applies. I am trying to find out if I can avoid this penalty if I get the renunciation done in India.
 
Oh, if you got OCI back in 2008, it means you sent in your passport for cancellation as you should have. It would be bullshit if they charged you anything more than the $20 for the renunciation AFTER 2010 or whatever. Just do that. Here.
 
I am going through very tough time. Lost my job, depleted my savings n earned big loss in india as well as here. now applied for food stamps here as well as become us citizen. Now I have to renounce my Indian citizenship but the fees is 175 n i have a family of 4 that makes it 700.00. I have appealed consulate to waive the fees but no reply so far. please advice what to do?? Help me!!!
 
Do you ever plan to go to India? If not, don't bother with the renunciation. You're already technically no longer an Indian citizen.
 
AT PRESENT NO PLANS TO GO TO INDIA BUT ALL MY FAMILY IS THERE INCLUDING INLAWS AND my mother in law is very sick so god forbids any mishappening otherwise my wife may have to go. as I cant afford all family travelling exp. thats why I have to get things done prior to the requirement. Is there any way to get the renunciation fee waived.
 
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