Passport submission not required with application from 15th June 2011.

javacafe, if you are still following these posts, seems like a good time for you to take the plunge.
 
Great News !!
At the same time I fail to understand people who write such rules in the first place. Is this what's going on?
[
Babu #1 : So as part of this outsourcing, we are going to hold people's passport for 1 month.
Babu #2 : Wonderful idea !! Let's make it 3 months.
]
 
When the time comes to increase fees, the change goes in effect "effective immediately". When the consulate needs to fix a problem created by them, they take 2+ weeks!!!
I love India (NOT)
 
What EXACTLY do they mean by that?

"Effective June 15, 2011, original US/Foreign passport will not be required at the time of submission of the intial OCI application. Instead, applicants will be alerted when their OCI card is ready and they will need to provide their original US/Foreign passport only at that time. "

What does "original US/Foreign passport" mean?
- Am i then supposed to send my Indian Passport with the application?

If not, then they should reword this as "original US AND Foreign PASSPORTS".
If i am supposed to send, then they should state that explicitly such as "original US OR Foreign passport is not required but original Indian passport is required at the time of submission".

I am confused as to what i'm supposed to send..

thanks
 
I Called Travisa to see what they mean

- by "/" do they mean "OR" or "AND"
- by Foreign passport, what are they referring to?

All i wanted to know was do i send in my Indian passport or NOT and the reply i got from travisa was " Sorry sir, i am not supposed to answer that ..."

WHAT?? that's so dumb. I told them it was their website publishing the requirements and what does he mean he is NOT supposed to answer the question..

This just sucks..
 
here Foreign passport means of a third country of which you are now a citizen. For eg if. a canadian citizen is residing in USA and applies for OCI then foreign passport would be the canadian passport.

If you have a surrender certificate for you Indian passport you only need that with the oci application.
If you do not have a surrender certificate then you are allowed to send in an application for renunciation along with that. Technically Indian passport is required for that renunciation process.

In summary if renunciation application is going with your oci app send latest original Indian passport. Do not send your current nationality passort. Effective June 15th....
 
I called Travisa again and spoke to another person, who spoke to his Supervisor and i was informed that they are still awaiting more information and asked me to watch their website for updates.

- I have a surrender certificate
- My wife has a cancelled indian passport but no surrender certificate (she does have the receipt for renunciation pinned to her passport).
She has travelled to India with her US and Cancelled indian passport (though she has no "Surrender Certificate" - this cert was not even given out at the time she applied
for renunciation).

It is still not clear to me what they want. We can speculate as to the reasons why they may or may not require these passports - i could care less. All i want is a clear answer from them. Knowing the Babu culture, i wouldn't take a chance and give them a reason to make me run from pillar to post.

thanks for the response though.. it makes sense but I would like them to explicitly state When to send Indian Passports (canceled and with or without surrender certificate).

best
 
So what exactly is your confusion? You already got your surrender certificate and so why would you be sending your old Indian passport in original for the OCI application? All they are saying is that you do not have to submit your original US passport (if you're an American) or your original foreign passport if you have a non-American citizenship. Seems pretty straightforward.
 
OCI Processing Change Alert - Original US/Foreign Passport
Effective June 15, 2011, original US/Foreign passport will not be required at the time of submission of the intial OCI application. Instead, applicants will be alerted when their OCI card is ready and they will need to provide their original US/Foreign passport only at that time.

"Current Original Passport (From your new country of citizenship) is not required at the time when you apply for OCI"

OLD Indian passport is still needed for POINT # 6 (Proof of lawful entry)... You will need to send the original Indian passport, the very first one that has your visa stamp in it.
You can opt out of providing the original Indian passport if you have a clear copy of the Green card.

For point # 9 Proof of Indian Origin.. You will only need to provide the copies of your last held Indian passport (if you ever renewed it)

Hope that makes it a little better. This is from my interpretation. God knows what Travisa meant by when the employee said, " I am sorry sir , I can't give you an answer."

For point # 10 Proof of Renunciation; it states clearly, "Your cancelled Indian passport with stamp stating the passport is canceled due to obtaining US (or any non Indian country) citizenship or..."

Only your new valid passport is not needed at the time when you apply for citizenship. Rest of the old Indian passports are needed. If you don't want them to keep your passports, then apply for OCI in person. They will return your passport at the time when you apply for OCI at Travisa. Original Indian passport is never sent to the Consulate, it's kept at Travisa in your file.
Travisa only looks at your passport as a proof of renunciation of citizenship or as a proof of lawful entry in the US and gives it back to you... If you apply by mail, travisa would still do the same.
 
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Oh ok, that explains things. When I had applied for OCI (this was pre-Travisa days), after cancellation of your Indian passport, you didn't have to submit your original Indian passport for the OCI application process but instead, just needed to submit photocopies of the relevant pages.
 
You can obtain a copy of your EAD/I-130/Green Card records from the USCIS under the freedom of information act. Which I think is better if you can't make a trip to the Travisa agency (If you live far away or something).

It's always better to send them copies instead of the originals. I did my application in person as i live only 40 minutes away from the Travisa agency. But for those folks living away, a copy of the EAD etc would be better as Travisa/Consulate may lose your old Indian passport and then they would ask you for a bunch of BS paperwork such as affidavit of loss, police report, etc.
 
idk said:
javacafe, if you are still following these posts, seems like a good time for you to take the plunge.
Click to expand...

@idk: Thank you so much for the personalized message! :)

I had been away for several days now. I visited the OCI homepage, only because a friend of mine wanted me to email her the URL. And, the the "OCI Processing Change Alert" message immediate caught my eye. What an enormous relief! And, again, I feel sorry for those who, for no fault of their own, could not avail of this policy because GOI and Travisa, like a pair of clowns, took this much time to figure this out!

In very few cases does procrastination pay off. But, for me, this is one such case. Now, I have no excuse for not applying.

So, my plan now is to apply no later than June 17.
 
javacafe said:
@idk: Thank you so much for the personalized message! :)

I had been away for several days now. I visited the OCI homepage, only because a friend of mine wanted me to email her the URL. And, the the "OCI Processing Change Alert" message immediate caught my eye. What an enormous relief! And, again, I feel sorry for those who, for no fault of their own, could not avail of this policy because GOI and Travisa, like a pair of clowns, took this much time to figure this out!

In very few cases does procrastination pay off. But, for me, this is one such case. Now, I have no excuse for not applying.

So, my plan now is to apply no later than June 17.
Click to expand...

NP javacafe, I seemed to recall you debating between torture now or torture later on another thread.
 
Last night the OCI section of Travisa's web site was down for a while. I guess they were updating it so as to reflect the new rules.

Given the new situation, shouldn't they take out point #2 from this web page: https://indiavisa.travisaoutsourcing.com/oci/top-rejection-reasons ?

For many new applicants, this is likely to contribute to confusion and anxiety. But, then, contributing to confusion and anxiety . . . might just be their motto. ;-)

Also, the third question on the FAQ page ( https://indiavisa.travisaoutsourcing.com/oci/faqs ) has the same issue.
 
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