OCI - Houston Tracker

Applying for OCI - Do I need surrender certificate before applying for OCI.

I am going to apply for my wife's OCI. She became U.S Citizen on August 28th, 2009. I have the following questions before applying for OCI.

1. Do I need to apply for her "Surrender Certificate" before applying for OCI?
2. Can I apply both OCI and Surrender Certificate together?
3. When I send the Indian passport (after the OCI online status says "Documents Received to Houston") before getting OCI stamp in U.S passport?
4. Do I need to pay the fee for surrender certificate along with OCI fees?

I am confused, because the CGIHouston website does not have any information about surrender certificate (in the OCI section). Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance...
 
Applying for OCI

Can anyone please help if I can file OCI and Surrender Certificate together? My wife got U.S Citizenship on August 28th, 2009.

Please advice...

Thanks
 
Our OCI applications has been received by houston today. Now the waiting begins...
me - pio 2 oci
my wife - applying for OCI
 
OCIJungle said:
Our OCI applications has been received by houston today. Now the waiting begins...
me - pio 2 oci
my wife - applying for OCI
Click to expand...


OCIJungle,

Can I apply OCI along with surrender certificate? I am applying for my wife. She got USC on August 18th, 2009. Can you please advice.

Thanks
 
Vallabadu,
I heard somewhere on the forums, that one needs to apply for Surr Certificate first, and then apply for OCI. Also, I read somewhere on the forums that some folks (not Houston) that they applied OCI and SC together and got the SC first approved and back with cancelled passport.

So to be on the safe side, what I did was applied for my wife's passport cancellation and surrender certificate.
 
What happened to the refund of $155 ?

What happened to the refund of $155 ?
Thousands of us were stripped off $175 for Surrender certificate and then the consulate reduced the fee $20. Consulate mentioned that they would only refund the fee based on the decision by Govt. Of India.

Any decision taken? What is the status of the refunds? Appreciate your response.
 
Hi Everyone,

Now that I received my OCI I have applied for my kids. So will update you on how things go in this regard.

Basically, applied for each of them as individuals and submitted them to Houston CGI in person. I had three individual sets with copies of my passport, my wife's passport, etc. etc. The person who received the application stacked all of them together (though they were three individual applications) and told me that since they are all part of the same family they will be handled together. She returned back all the extra copies of the passport pages of mine and my wife's, etc, etc.

The most important thing to note is that she said it is now taking 6 to 8 months to process the OCI!!!. She said this is the upper end of the processing time.

Will keep you guys posted on what happens here. By the way I am a US citizen and my wife is an Indian citizen.
 
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that long ......

aug182010,
thank you for posting your experience at houston CGI. When I see other consulates (Chicago, ny, etc etc), they are hardly taking 1-2 months. Did they say, why it will be taking 6-8 months. Any one? any guess here why houston is taking so long for the same, while other consulates (in US) taking considerable less time..

thanks again for posting you experience. I recently, just a few days before, mailed my application from florida to Houston. We had plans to travel in Dec/Nov, looks like its not gonna happen with this OCI time line....

thanks
 
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KosmoKramer said:
CGI Houston is not clear on that.

but CGI NY suggests to apply SC first

its an quick and easy process, better to apply
Click to expand...

as per immihelp.com/nri/indian-citizenship-renunciation-surrender-certificate you can do both together. Look under application section.
 
OCIJungle,
What do we put in for Tehsil, District in Renunciation form? I was born in Mumbai, I've no idea what Tehsil and district to put :-(

thanks
 
CGI Houston is staffed with a bunch of f*king turds

OCIJungle said:
aug182010,
thank you for posting your experience at houston CGI. When I see other consulates (Chicago, ny, etc etc), they are hardly taking 1-2 months. Did they say, why it will be taking 6-8 months. Any one? any guess here why houston is taking so long for the same, while other consulates (in US) taking considerable less time..

thanks again for posting you experience. I recently, just a few days before, mailed my application from florida to Houston. We had plans to travel in Dec/Nov, looks like its not gonna happen with this OCI time line....

thanks
Click to expand...

CGI Houston is staffed with a bunch of f*king turds who don't really give a sh*t about your app. Even the b*tch who serves as the operator has attitude. I use these expletives after 5 years of multiple interactions with CGI Houston, not a single one of them positive. Same is true for MOIA - they don't give a sh*t and yet have the cojones to charge American sized fees for their so called "services" Seems Texas has some kind of jinx wrt immigration. USCIS Texas I'm told is the worst and CGI Houston seems to be in the same pit.

Anyway, does anyone on this forum know if a surrender certificate is needed for applying for OCI when the Indian passport already has a Cancel stamp? When did the concept of "surrender certificate" start? I don't recall any advice about surrender cert on the CGI Houston site. I have an ack date of June, 2010 and based on the clever number manipulation suggested by another forum user(cool idea dude!) I am currently anticipating the OCI to be approved around end of September (best case scenario)
 
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bobbycdp said:
I agree with you. I am also thinking I wasted money. I don't mind taking a little bit longer for processing. But atleast let us know what is going on. If Houston don't want to communicate at least they can reply to the emails OR answer the phone call OR atleast return the message. Does anyone know Indian high commissioner email/phone?
Click to expand...

Here's my (sad) escalation story
After no phone pick-up/voice mail/email/fax response from CGI Houston I called the Embassy in DC and surprise surprise a human being picked up the phone. Alas my joy was shortlived. The t*rd asked for my contact details only to interrupt me mid-stream to state that he did not need my contact details. Forwarded me to some Rajiv Ranjan whose voice-mail box was full. Next I wasted time figuring out which Ministry OCI falls under and after a day and several mails stumbled onto Ministry Of Overseas Indian Affairs where several attempts to log a complaint failed. In the mystical world of MOIA, things like periods, commas, parens, etc are considered "special characters" that are not allowed. In addition to that they have a dropdown item for OCI against which a complaint is not allowed (so why the f*ck even have it as a dropdown item). So basically I selected a couple other items against which the complaint bounced. Mails to the general Info mailbox also bouce AND get this the general mail id is published as the official "Contact Us" link. Next I started sending e-mails to the direct departments (Diaspora, Emigration, etc) because the department heads and mails are published on the site. Sent a couple of reminders and gradually escalated to Deputy Secretary, Secretary, etc. Till date not a single fu*king dept has responded. So there you go. The t*urds at CGI Houston clearly take their lead from their bosses in India. Their stance basically is -- you'll get it when you get it, consider yourself lucky that you got it, don't bother us in the interim. Also for everyone on the forum DO NOT mail in your US passport OR if you do mail it pray sincerely and only then mail. Personal experience, CGI Houston can and does lose passports and the t*urds are not even the slightest bit apologetic. These guys are bast*rds of the highest order guys - buyer beware.
 
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In this Houston tracker thread I see several mentions of applying for Surrender Certificate yet I see nothing about this on the CGI Houston site. Is there any webpage under CGI Houston which advises on procedures/fees/requirements for SC? Were you guys contacted by CGI Houston for getting an SC? I cancelled my Indian passport in 2005 and applied for OCI in June 2010. Its not clear to me whether I need a SC or not? Anybody know? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks

gc4us do you know? Also thanks for posting that CGI NY link. Very helpful.
 
calmNik said:
In this Houston tracker thread I see several mentions of applying for Surrender Certificate yet I see nothing about this on the CGI Houston site. Is there any webpage under CGI Houston which advises on procedures/fees/requirements for SC? Were you guys contacted by CGI Houston for getting an SC? I cancelled my Indian passport in 2005 and applied for OCI in June 2010. Its not clear to me whether I need a SC or not? Anybody know? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks

gc4us do you know? Also thanks for posting that CGI NY link. Very helpful.
Click to expand...

Please go to: http://www.cgihouston.org/
Under IMPORTANT PRESS RELEASES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS, please check the third link: Latest advisory regarding renunciation of Indian citizenship
When you click that link a word document will open. That may help you.

Thanks
 
vellabadu said:
Under IMPORTANT PRESS RELEASES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS, please check the third link: Latest advisory regarding renunciation of Indian citizenship
When you click that link a word document will open. That may help you.

Thanks
Click to expand...

vellabadu: Thanks for the link. As Kramer stated correctly no further action is needed for my case. I'm relieved because I certainly was not looking for another round of interactions with CGI Houston.
 
OCIJungle said:
Vallabadu,
I heard somewhere on the forums, that one needs to apply for Surr Certificate first, and then apply for OCI. Also, I read somewhere on the forums that some folks (not Houston) that they applied OCI and SC together and got the SC first approved and back with cancelled passport.

So to be on the safe side, what I did was applied for my wife's passport cancellation and surrender certificate.
Click to expand...


OCIJungle, calmNik,

Thanks for your responses. Today I mailed my wife's and son's OCI application to Houston (finally I mailed). I just noticed before mailing the application, that my wife's Indian passport has been canceled when we apply for her visa in October 2009 (she visited India in November 2009 and she got U.S citizenship on August 13, 2009). Since her passport is already canceled, I didn't apply for her Surrender Certificate. Hopefully everything should be fine now. Here are the documents I mailed to Houston.

1. Money Order for $440.00 (for me $275.00, for my son $145.00, return mail $20.00)
2. OCI Application form along with four Passport size photographs. Two pasted on application (original and duplicate) and two stapled with the application.
3. Copy of first and last pages containing personal details of Indian Passport held by my wife prior to acquiring foreign citizenship (which has cancelled passport stamp in the first page).
4. Photocopy of Birth Certificate of my son (born outside India who did not possess Indian Passport).
5. Photocopy of my son’s PIO card.
6. Photocopy of my wife's and my son’s US Passport.
7. Photocopy of money order.

Hopefully I didn't miss anything.

By the way, I already had OCI (received in Jan 2009) and the process was really smooth that time.

Thanks

Status:
OCI Mailed to Houston: 08/23/2010
 
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