India Dual Citizenship Mega Thread (Merged)
- Thread starter columbiaman
- Start date
for mangal
I sent a fax this morning and got a call from Priti Gill at the CGI-NY. It seems a letter has been mailed to my home to collect the card & sticker. Will see if it has reached today. She mentioned that she can be contacted by sending her a fax at 212 734 1595
Hope this helps people from the NY area.
genesis1 said:
I sent a fax this morning and got a call from Priti Gill at the CGI-NY. It seems a letter has been mailed to my home to collect the card & sticker. Will see if it has reached today. She mentioned that she can be contacted by sending her a fax at 212 734 1595
Hope this helps people from the NY area.
anand74 said:
If you have already paid that money i doubt you'll get it back
So unless you are going to go to India and need the OCI ASAP I suggest you stick to mailing the passport !
It is true that the option of pick up was not given earlier.I guess the letter will mention if the option of pickup is still there
astrix said:
Unfortunately this is not 100% correct. They have cut some stuff out ...
The Citizenship Act 1955:
i.e. Birth between 1950 and 1987 strongly qualifies you for citizenship, but it is not proof of citizenship. This Act is subordinate legislation to the constitution, and is in turn interpreted by gazetted citizenship rules.
You were asking if it is worth saving money and time and just getting the Birth certificate attested - I think either a citizenship certificate issued under section 13 of the same act, or a passport is the only definitive proof of citizenship. (A Birth Certificate can be used as one of the documents to apply for a passport). How the consulate/MHA views a Birth Certificate this is another matter, but I am sure they would prefer a passport because:
- it is definitive proof
- it is a secure document, a birth certificate is not
- it is issued by the central government,
- the MHA/MOIA would have ready access to the on-file records to verify if there was doubt - they would need to access the municipality records to verify a Birth Certificate.
- the Passport record will also show why citizenship was deprived – if it was deprived under section 10 then you are not eligible for OCI.
- criminal records etc are held against passports - using standard immigration practices and software, MHA could/would be checking these records against your passport for adverse findings.
- some consulates specifically state they want copies of Indian passport, and to extend them beyond their comfort zone will only slow the process down/cause inconvenience. Again, your application is going to the MHA as well - so both need to accept the Birth Certificate.
- (to my knowledge) there is nothing that says a Birth Certificate is acceptable as a document for OCI application
I don’t think they are being very strict, so you may get away with it – but I would say clearly passports would be recommended.
BTW I had photocopied both pages of my passport on one page using a tricky photocopy manoeuvre, and had no problems.
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astrix,
OCI is not equal to IC.
OCI requires proof of Indian citizenship-As shown by PIO1 birth cert is not equal to proof of Indian citizenship.
Also how is the embassy/MHA to determine if you are the same person named in the birth certificate ?
They would not put in that much time and effort to have your birth record extracted and trace your whereabouts till you left the country and check up your criminal record and immigration record.Checking your passport makes it much much easier for them.
As far as notarisation goes for them only having the main info page notarised is all they need.Other copies need not be notarised.
OCI is not equal to IC.
OCI requires proof of Indian citizenship-As shown by PIO1 birth cert is not equal to proof of Indian citizenship.
Also how is the embassy/MHA to determine if you are the same person named in the birth certificate ?
They would not put in that much time and effort to have your birth record extracted and trace your whereabouts till you left the country and check up your criminal record and immigration record.Checking your passport makes it much much easier for them.
As far as notarisation goes for them only having the main info page notarised is all they need.Other copies need not be notarised.
mangal969 said:
A couple of good points from mangal to add to my last message:
9) A Birth Certificate does not have a photo, so less capability of confirming Identity
10) OCI requires proof of previous Indian citizenship (or granparent's) - it is not citizenship in itself, which should have already been granted - Birth Certificate does not have the purpose of proving citizenship.
11) Even if they were not dilligently checking passports for adverse findings, if they saw a Birth Certificate, that would give them good reason to escalate and run all the processes around it = delays - if they did not send the application back.
OCI acknowledgement - how long it takes at CGINY?
How long (usually) does it take for CGINY to send acknowledgement of the recipt of OCI application and how long does it take for the online status to show up? I just sent my application couple of days back and honestly don't expect to hear anything in the next couple of days. Just wanted to check if my assessment is way off the reality.
How long (usually) does it take for CGINY to send acknowledgement of the recipt of OCI application and how long does it take for the online status to show up? I just sent my application couple of days back and honestly don't expect to hear anything in the next couple of days. Just wanted to check if my assessment is way off the reality.
mpotturi said:
There is no acknoweldgement of receipt issued.If you have sent a self addressed stamp envelope they will send you a file no acknowledgement once the preliminary examination of your form is done and your check clears.But this is in a sense useless because you can get your file number online much sooner.The online status should update around 2 weeks of CGINY receiving the documents.
Genesis1,
No letter in my mail today
I even faxed the OCI cell but there is no response as yet
Nothing from the MEA either
Looks like you were ahead of the pack so you got a quick reply.I'm sure a huge no of people have e-mailed Ms Thekat and faxed Ms Gill.So i can expect a late or no response.
No letter in my mail today
I even faxed the OCI cell but there is no response as yet
Nothing from the MEA either
Looks like you were ahead of the pack so you got a quick reply.I'm sure a huge no of people have e-mailed Ms Thekat and faxed Ms Gill.So i can expect a late or no response.
Cgi Ny
Incidentally she also clearly mentioned that passport can be brought to the Consulate or mailed to them.
Today I got another call from the CGI from another lady who left a message on my cellphone ( accidentally it was left in the car!). She said that the OCI cards were received in NY on the 31st March and that letters have been sent out. She also said that to contact her on her direct number if there is a problem. Right now I still have not received the letter, but will call her if there is no letter by Saturday.mangal969 said:Genesis1,
No letter in my mail today
I even faxed the OCI cell but there is no response as yet
Nothing from the MEA either
Looks like you were ahead of the pack so you got a quick reply.I'm sure a huge no of people have e-mailed Ms Thekat and faxed Ms Gill.So i can expect a late or no response.
Incidentally she also clearly mentioned that passport can be brought to the Consulate or mailed to them.
Thank you Mangal. I have sent money orders for my fee and did not enclose self addressed stamped envelope. Probably I was think more in line with what INS I mean CIS does by sending a receipt notice. Anyway, will wait for couple of weeks and check the status online. Can we check it using the reference number assigned to us when we did online registration (part A, I guess) or do we need both the file number and the reference number?mangal969 said:
mpotturi said:
You can check using reference number which you get during the online registration process (Part A). Make sure you click the go button next to it instead of hitting return on your key board. Once your application is under process, the file number field will be populated automatically based on your reference number.
genesis1 said:
Thanks for the update...Looks like CGINY is trying to improve it's sullied OCI image...Two calls in response to one fax ! ! !
Anyway if the OCI cards were received on 31st March (and it must have been a huge lot) it stands to reason the letters may have been mailed as late as yesterday or today given that all of them have to be sorted signed and stamped.So with the weekend in between my guess is people (you and me included) would get their letters on Monday or Tuesday.
Apart from visa free entry and not having to register yourself if you stay in India beyond six months, there is very little that has come through on the Dual Citizenship front. The website is cryptic, in that, it says that Dual Citizens would be accorded financial and economic benefits on par with an NRI. However, the same still remains a declaration of sorts and has not come through in the law. Unless the law itself (the Income Tax Act and FEMA) is amended by means of relevant circulars and notifications, we cannot say that Dual Citizens are on par with NRIs. For example, a PIO(an NRI with foreign citizenship) cannot sell real estate to a Resident, he has to sell the same either to an NRI or to a PIO only. However, an NRI is free to sell his house property to a Resident. There are several such aspects which need to be addressed and it remains to be seen if the same is done during the forthcoming Budget on February 28th. Incidentally, we receive a number of queries asking whether now that Dual Citizenship has come about, foreigners can buy agricultural land. It may be clarified here that even NRIs are not allowed to buy agricultural land. Therefore, there is no question of a Dual Citizen be allowed just on account of his Indian citizenship.
http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14164251
This is really a concerning situation for those who want to R2I. I was waiting for budget and post budget discussions but nothing has come out from the Govt so far. As usual they will wake up only when people raise their voice or some case law comes up.
http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14164251
This is really a concerning situation for those who want to R2I. I was waiting for budget and post budget discussions but nothing has come out from the Govt so far. As usual they will wake up only when people raise their voice or some case law comes up.