Traveling to India with OCI card and NEW passport (NO old passport)

M

MSPD

New Member
The old US passport of my daughter (minor) expired recently. That has the lifelong visa. I have applied for passport renewal, and they said that the new passport will arrive in 2 weeks and the old passport will be returned one week after that. I will be traveling to India within 2 weeks. So, worst case, if I don't get back the old passport which has the lifelong visa, what are my options ?

* Can I travel with the OCI card and the new US passport (without the OLD passport)

thanks.
 
Be ready for hassles at the airport. You can paid money to expedite the passport. You probably can still expedite by calling them.
The OCI booklet has no value. They need to see a visa. If they do not see it, they will give her a landing permit for a week or 2. It will cost you money, plus trips to MHA/FRRO to get it fixed. Best to avoid it.
However, usually the new and old passports come within 1-2 days of each other.
 
Yeah, why would the old passport come a week later? Makes NO sense! I'm sure it really won't. You will probably have issues entering India, so unless you're prepared to "pay a fine," try to get the Indian consulate to send it to you at the same time. They are such idiots!
 
cafeconleche said:
Yeah, why would the old passport come a week later? Makes NO sense! I'm sure it really won't. You will probably have issues entering India, so unless you're prepared to "pay a fine," try to get the Indian consulate to send it to you at the same time. They are such idiots!
Click to expand...

It is not the Indian consulate but the US Dept of State that has his daughter's old expired US passport which he must have sent in as part of the renewal process.
 
Thanks for the response. Looking through the old documents, I realized that her old passport (prior to the one that expired recently) has her old visitor visa, that I got before the OCI card, and that visa is still valid. In the worst case, can that be used even though I got the U visa done later on ? Or does the old visa get invalidated after the U visa is granted ? Does anyone know or has any experience like this ?

sanjoseaug20 said:
Be ready for hassles at the airport. You can paid money to expedite the passport. You probably can still expedite by calling them.
The OCI booklet has no value. They need to see a visa. If they do not see it, they will give her a landing permit for a week or 2. It will cost you money, plus trips to MHA/FRRO to get it fixed. Best to avoid it.
However, usually the new and old passports come within 1-2 days of each other.
Click to expand...
 
Your best bets are to
a) expedite the passport, or at least hope that it arrives in time.
b) pay the fine at the airport
Old visa is not going to cut it, and in fact will invite more scrutiny since there will be a gap of the passport between them. I am not sure of its validity given that OCI was granted and stamped. Be mentally prepared to handle the airport hassles, that is the best course. If you can not do it, think of delaying the travel.
 
cafeconleche said:
Yeah, why would the old passport come a week later? Makes NO sense! I'm sure it really won't. You will probably have issues entering India, so unless you're prepared to "pay a fine," try to get the Indian consulate to send it to you at the same time. They are such idiots!
Click to expand...
US passport is NOT applied through Indian Consulate.
 
MSPD said:
The old US passport of my daughter (minor) expired recently. That has the lifelong visa. I have applied for passport renewal, and they said that the new passport will arrive in 2 weeks and the old passport will be returned one week after that. I will be traveling to India within 2 weeks. So, worst case, if I don't get back the old passport which has the lifelong visa, what are my options ?

* Can I travel with the OCI card and the new US passport (without the OLD passport)

thanks.
Click to expand...
1 expedite the New passport and make request to DOS to send the old passport with New passport. Explain them the Problem.
2.Take old Passport with U Visa + New US passport+ OCI Booklet
Or
Delay the trip
 
MSPD said:
Thanks for the response. Looking through the old documents, I realized that her old passport (prior to the one that expired recently) has her old visitor visa, that I got before the OCI card, and that visa is still valid. In the worst case, can that be used even though I got the U visa done later on ? Or does the old visa get invalidated after the U visa is granted ? Does anyone know or has any experience like this ?
Click to expand...

The acquisition of the OCI status invalidates all prior visas. I know I have read that somewhere. Also in the case of my son, he had an Indian visa prior to getting his OCI and when they placed the OCI visa sticker in his passport, they canceled the other Indian visa which was in the same passport. For your daughter, since these were in two separate passports, they could not cancel her earlier Indian visa but it does not mean that they have canceled it in the visa database system.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks for all your responses. I got the passport finally. Here is the timeline. Expedited application submitted on 11th July, reached the processing center on 13th July. Passport issued on 19th July. Received new passport on 20th July. Old passport with the U visa came back on 22nd July.
 
MSPD said:
Thanks for all your responses. I got the passport finally. Here is the timeline. Expedited application submitted on 11th July, reached the processing center on 13th July. Passport issued on 19th July. Received new passport on 20th July. Old passport with the U visa came back on 22nd July.
Click to expand...

Hi, Wanted to check if you had any problem in entering India with old passport having U visa and the new passport.
Currently for minors it says that if a new passport is issued then the U visa need to be reissued and applied to the new passport. Wanted to check if anybody had issues while entering.

Please let me know.

Thanks
 
What did you do in this situatoin travelling with kids with new passport but OCI on old passport

What did you do in this situatoin travelling with kids with new passport but OCI on old passport
ditty said:
Hi, Wanted to check if you had any problem in entering India with old passport having U visa and the new passport.
Currently for minors it says that if a new passport is issued then the U visa need to be reissued and applied to the new passport. Wanted to check if anybody had issues while entering.

Please let me know.

Thanks
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top