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

From what i can interpret from all the articles on this..........if you have an indian passport that was marked as "cancelled because passport holder has aquired US citizenship", you don't have to get the surrender certificate.
The surrender certificate is needed only if your passport was not cancelled and is either still valid or has expired.

Will be able to validate when i travel to India next month. Will carry my cancelled indian passport, just in case.

G
 
Does any one know, if we have already cancelled our passport 3 years back and got OCI card, and need to get this Surrender certificate
1. Should we send $175 fee?
2. Should we send cancelled passport?
I am not getting any response from consulate, any help is appreciated..
 
shoysala said:
Does any one know, if we have already cancelled our passport 3 years back and got OCI card, and need to get this Surrender certificate
1. Should we send $175 fee?
2. Should we send cancelled passport?
I am not getting any response from consulate, any help is appreciated..
Click to expand...

As per the new rules, it looks like the canceled passport is enough. You do not need to procure SC.
 
My wife and kids reached India yesterday. They were not asked for surrender certificate or even indian passport. Officer only took US passports and OCI booklets, stamped the passport and let them through. This was in Mumbai.
Thanks.

G
 
goober71 said:
My wife and kids reached India yesterday. They were not asked for surrender certificate or even indian passport. Officer only took US passports and OCI booklets, stamped the passport and let them through. This was in Mumbai.
Thanks.

G
Click to expand...

thanks for the info. good to know. leaving next week to india.
 
Age over 50 means one needs to get a new OCI booklet. To get this one must be compliant with indian passport/surrender certificate rules. Else this service is denied.

Rules are not uniform at all Indian consulates. Often contradictory. One requires something notarized. Another something different.

Why don't they make one set of rules and one website for all this?
 
I think, rules are clear now

shoysala said:
Does any one know, if we have already cancelled our passport 3 years back and got OCI card, and need to get this Surrender certificate(SC)
1. Should we send $175 fee?

As per the revised rule, U need to send $20 only as u got u USC before 31st May2010. Alos U need SC before u start using consulate service in future.

2. Should we send cancelled passport?
U need to copies of canceled passport along with NC while applying SC.
Click to expand...
 
NRI: India travel on American passport and Indian passport surrender certificate

Hi,

Do you know if Indian passport surrender certificate or Old canceled Indian passports are required for travel apart from US passport and OCI card? Reading from Web, officially surrender certificate is only required for consular services. however I have heard here and there that at port of entry, people are being asked to show old canceled passport. If you have recently traveled on American passport to India or if you know of someone who traveled on American passport to India, can you please share if surrender certificate or old canceled Indian passports are being asked?

Thanks
Giri
 
The POE immigration folks do not care for any old certificate or passport, because an OCI need not have any indian passport ever. I have an OCI and never held a indian passport. I have gone a few times through the Indian immigiration in the last 8 months.
 
I just traveled to India and back ( went 8th July and came back on the 28th)...my POE was IGI New Delhi. I was not asked for the cancelled Indian passport. I provided the American Passport and OCI booklet....immigration process done no question asked. However there is some truth to what you write above in terms of being asked for cancelled indian passport and that happens when you show the American passport and not the OCI booklet. People have argued what is the point the since the US passport has the Visa and numeric portion of the Visa number is same as your OCI booklet number......well hard to argue against the border personnel....but if you provide the OCI booklet you will be fine.

But I did carry my cancelled Indian passport with me just in case ....a far lesser hassle than deliberating with the immigration folks if they ever ask for it.

On a different topic.....on the way back I was marked for a random custom check which meant a guy writing down my passport info then taking me to a room ....where a guy sitting in a sofa and munching snacks asks me what I do for a living....I said and that was all.......never had this experience before....this was the first time I was having Delhi as a POE as well as first time into India as a OCI....not sure if any of that had anything to do with this.....just sharing my exp.
 
prady said:
I just traveled to India and back ( went 8th July and came back on the 28th)...my POE was IGI New Delhi. I was not asked for the cancelled Indian passport. I provided the American Passport and OCI booklet....immigration process done no question asked. However there is some truth to what you write above in terms of being asked for cancelled indian passport and that happens when you show the American passport and not the OCI booklet. People have argued what is the point the since the US passport has the Visa and numeric portion of the Visa number is same as your OCI booklet number......well hard to argue against the border personnel....but if you provide the OCI booklet you will be fine.

But I did carry my cancelled Indian passport with me just in case ....a far lesser hassle than deliberating with the immigration folks if they ever ask for it.

On a different topic.....on the way back I was marked for a random custom check which meant a guy writing down my passport info then taking me to a room ....where a guy sitting in a sofa and munching snacks asks me what I do for a living....I said and that was all.......never had this experience before....this was the first time I was having Delhi as a POE as well as first time into India as a OCI....not sure if any of that had anything to do with this.....just sharing my exp.
Click to expand...

So the random check was in Delhi?
 
prady said:
....this was the first time I was having Delhi as a POE as well as first time into India as a OCI....not sure if any of that had anything to do with this.....just sharing my exp.
Click to expand...

Nothing to do with it :) I spend serious amount of time on planes and airports. I have found that each country and each OE will from time to time flag (*not random) some pax for a secondary. Now I do not know if outbound from DEL is a customs check. Its Immigrations-->Lounge-->Security/baggage-check and then on to boarding.
I need to understand it a bit more.
 
I was informed about me having being selected for a "random customs check" at the time of checking in to get the boarding pass.....hence which I cleared security( no additional screening there) and immigration( no question asked there either).

The questioning though just one at that...was at the customs.

You may not always realise that 'customs' is a step that you go thorugh....as right after immigration you go onto boarding...however when you leave the immigration cubicles ....right there are the customs officers and they do stop people.
 
prady said:
I was informed about me having being selected for a "random customs check" at the time of checking in to get the boarding pass.....hence which I cleared security( no additional screening there) and immigration( no question asked there either).

The questioning though just one at that...was at the customs.

You may not always realise that 'customs' is a step that you go thorugh....as right after immigration you go onto boarding...however when you leave the immigration cubicles ....right there are the customs officers and they do stop people.
Click to expand...

Post 9/11 for a couple of years, a boarding pass with 4 S's in the left hand-bottom corner indicated a secondary security check with patting down. So the airline checkin agent informed you that you were selected for a customs secondary ? How interesting.

I have not seen these customs folks in the DEL in the many exits I have had from there. I do recollect that pre 9/11; in mumbai you had to get a mandatory stamp on your boarding-card from men and women in white who were sitting at the table.
BOM seems to be a bit more restrictive in other minor details too ;)

Did you exit the new terminal 3 in DEL or still the international terminal ? Both 9W and IT have announced that they will move all domestic and international flights to terminal 3 at DEL.
 
It was the international terminal.....ter 3 was not fucntional on that particular day.

CCU is my normal POE and they also put a mandatory stamp for the customs check.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top