Post Surrender Certificate rule : OCI's India Port of Entry Experience

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prady

Registered Users (C)
Folks,

Just starting the thread to capture how the India POE staff acting/reacting to this new surrender certificate rule?
Are they asking for it ? Are they lending themselves to understanding if you say you have been an OCI long before this rule came about thus you do not have it?

Please post your experiences.
 
I think the rules for surrendering Indian passports apply only for getting any consular service from Indian missions. I don't think the staff at Indian airports care.
 
prady said:
Folks,

Just starting the thread to capture how the India POE staff acting/reacting to this new surrender certificate rule?
Are they asking for it ? Are they lending themselves to understanding if you say you have been an OCI long before this rule came about thus you do not have it?

Please post your experiences.
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I initially thought and would really like to believe you and hope that becomes true ...but remember the OCI doc and just the passport 'U' visa confuision. Intitially just the passport was Ok the suddenly the POE staff started to ask OCI Docs as well....my gut is this will slowly go that route..

And if you step back and think that is the only way they can get all the OCI's who are already done with their OCI processing and stuff to pay up for that freaking cerifiticate ...bcos once you are US citizen and have got a lifelong U vis what other services would you need from the consulate.
 
nkm-oct23 said:
I think the rules for surrendering Indian passports apply only for getting any consular service from Indian missions. I don't think the staff at Indian airports care.
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Sorry for the repost .....responded to the wrong message


I initially thought and would really like to believe you and hope that becomes true ...but remember the OCI doc and just the passport 'U' visa confuision. Intitially just the passport was Ok the suddenly the POE staff started to ask OCI Docs as well....my gut is this will slowly go that route..

And if you step back and think that is the only way they can get all the OCI's who are already done with their OCI processing and stuff to pay up for that freaking cerifiticate ...bcos once you are US citizen and have got a lifelong U vis what other services would you need from the consulate.
 
On one hand CGISF is saying surrender certificates are needed for any kind of service.


At the same time they are not issuing surrender certificates to those who already have a cancelled stamp in thie old Indian passport.

cgisf.org/renunciation/ricscpenalty.html

If you have an Indian Passport which has already been surrendered on acquisition of US nationality - No Surrender Certificate Issued

This is beyond comprehension.
 
"bcos once you are US citizen and have got a lifelong U vis what other services would you need from the consulate"

several - transfers of oci on kids new passport, certificates, power of attorneys etc
 
abhi777771 said:
On one hand CGISF is saying surrender certificates are needed for any kind of service.


At the same time they are not issuing surrender certificates to those who already have a cancelled stamp in thie old Indian passport.

cgisf.org/renunciation/ricscpenalty.html

If you have an Indian Passport which has already been surrendered on acquisition of US nationality - No Surrender Certificate Issued

This is beyond comprehension.
Click to expand...

that is the exact area where we will get caught if POE folks start asking for it...I just hope they will not.

I am scheduled to travel pretty soon will post what I go through ......but I just cringe to think for all the US entry issues we faced from H/F/J whatever visa we came here with thru to Citizenship( to be assured of an entry ...and with all that is going on the harrasment will never end) ....the situation just ripens for making entry issues on the other side of the fence now...!
 
prady said:
that is the exact area where we will get caught if POE folks start asking for it...I just hope they will not.

I am scheduled to travel pretty soon will post what I go through ......but I just cringe to think for all the US entry issues we faced from H/F/J whatever visa we came here with thru to Citizenship( to be assured of an entry ...and with all that is going on the harrasment will never end) ....the situation just ripens for making entry issues on the other side of the fence now...!
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What is suprising is that NYC consulate is issuing surrender certs to any and all - including those who have cancelled stamps on old Indian passports. In fact there are talk about a SC camp over the long wknd
 
abhi777771 said:
What is suprising is that NYC consulate is issuing surrender certs to any and all - including those who have cancelled stamps on old Indian passports. In fact there are talk about a SC camp over the long wknd
Click to expand...

There you go

"In order to cope with the rush for obtaining the renunciation/surrender certificate, a special camp is being organized at the Consulate General of India New York on Saturday, 29th May, 2010 between 9.00am-5.30 pm. Applicants who need to travel to India urgently are advised to come in person, bring all the documents, complete all the formalities and obtain their Certificates at the Consulate on the same day."
 
Milk NRIs as much as possible

It is good money spinning strategy from Indian Govt. First from PIO card It earned about ¼ billion and then from OCI, earned about ½ billion. Now it is new strategy to get some more. We, USA citizens of India origin, every time we jump and try to do what ever it takes to keep the connection. Enough grinding :mad:. Here is my interpretation of the new rule.

Surrender of passport is mandatory as per Indian Law before 90 days of acquiring other Citizenship. Now if one applied OCI / PIO before 90 days, you are good as per Indian Law and no penalty fee applies when ever you need of Surrender Certificate. Currently 2 years grace period is offered for those people who has not misused their Indian passports after they acquired USA citizenship. I believe this certificate is not required for travel if one has valid Visa.

From now on wards, any new OCI / PIO, it is mandatory to get Surrender Certificate. For those people who already have OCI, they will be needing this certificate in future when ever they apply for any services like new OCI booklet, re-stamping of U OCI Visa etc… The bottom line is India Govt increased the OCI fee by $175 by pulling some old rule which they could have done with out any cost.
 
Guys I got my OCI and SC from NY today. I have the SC in my hand. There is no way they can demand this at the POE's. It is just a piece of paper that will not withstand constant travel and being in pockets. I plan to make color copies of it and keep it so that I never have to use the original. I dont expect it to be needed.
 
jaihoindia said:
It is good money spinning strategy from Indian Govt. First from PIO card It earned about ¼ billion and then from OCI, earned about ½ billion. Now it is new strategy to get some more. We, USA citizens of India origin, every time we jump and try to do what ever it takes to keep the connection. Enough grinding :mad:. Here is my interpretation of the new rule.

Surrender of passport is mandatory as per Indian Law before 90 days of acquiring other Citizenship. Now if one applied OCI / PIO before 90 days, you are good as per Indian Law and no penalty fee applies when ever you need of Surrender Certificate. Currently 2 years grace period is offered for those people who has not misused their Indian passports after they acquired USA citizenship. I believe this certificate is not required for travel if one has valid Visa.

From now on wards, any new OCI / PIO, it is mandatory to get Surrender Certificate. For those people who already have OCI, they will be needing this certificate in future when ever they apply for any services like new OCI booklet, re-stamping of U OCI Visa etc… The bottom line is India Govt increased the OCI fee by $175 by pulling some old rule which they could have done with out any cost.
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This is the biggest money spinner of them all since they catch all former citizens not just ones who apply for PIO and OCI. At least with PIO/OCI you could argue that the revenue gained was offset by revenue lost from all the visa fees that they lost as a result. However this takes the cake when it comes to good revenue generating ideas.

Maybe Sunanda Pushkar did this now that she has returned all her "consultancy" money for the Kochi IPL franchise. Maybe we all have misjudged her and her friend/fiance (Mr. Twitter himself) before resigning and they are truly geniuses who deserve all the money that they have been making. Or was this a Raja special. Whoever came up with this one, should be put in charge of Air India and probably can make it profitable.
 
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My brother-in-law just landed in Ahmedabad last week on an American passport with an OCI card (that was issued 10 months ago), and he was asked for the Canceled Indian passport!!!!! I am not sure why....Does this mean that the surrender certificate is now a travel document.

I have sent an email asking CGI NY....Let's see if I get a response...
 
We just got our package back today with the OCIs, US passports and canceled Indian passports, PIO card. The package also contains 1 part of the 2-part surrender certificate form, that now has the consulate stamp, signature and a DRIL no. that is also now seen on the US passports. Is this the surrender certificate itself or just an acknowledgment of the application? Thanks for your inputs.
 
OCimember said:
Yes, he did have a canceled Indian passport. The passport was stamped canceled and returned to him along with his OCI about 10 months back.
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Wait, you mean to say you bro-in-law traveled to India with his canceled passport also in hand? So he showed this to the officer when requested? This is ridiculous for them to be asking for this.
 
JPBoston said:
Wait, you mean to say you bro-in-law traveled to India with his canceled passport also in hand? So he showed this to the officer when requested? This is ridiculous for them to be asking for this.
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that is silly on their part if they even ask it
 
Well, this is what I like about bureaucracies ... if they want to, and without caring about anyone, they can plug the holes in a process.

So some minister or bureaucrat got the smart idea of making sure Indian passports of USCs are canceled. Give them credit ... from what it appears, they are willing to take heat on not publishing the rules, messing up everyone's plans, but they will make sure they catch the person who did not cancel India passport after getting USC .... Now it is a different question how this person got OCI without canceling the passort ;-)

Next stop is going to everyone's home and doing an audit.

But at the end of it, the world will be free of USCs holding un-expired Indian passport.
 
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