Travelling during grace period

[zaheeruk]

Hi All

Just wanted to share my experience hoping it might help someone.

I applied for my son's naturalisation in April 2016. It finally came in August. During this timeframe he travelled to India on July 21st after I asked a lot of forum members about the 3 month grace period. My son returned today and this is how he travelled. Please note that he did not have a valid visa to return

1. Travelled to India on Indian passport. Was not questioned by UK border at birmingham or Indian customs at Delhi on how will he go back. Had a entry stamp in Indian passport at Delhi
2. Got his passport at the end of August.
3. This is the main part now. While returning back from Hyderabad, the Indian customs guy asked why he did not have a visa. I explained to him that he was naturalized in August and he is allowed to travel using his Indian passport within 3 months of naturalization. I showed him Indian passport where the entry stamp was there. I was told that Indian customs will clear my exit in the Indian passport and it is upto UK border to allow me which was possible. The mistake I did was that I showed the UK passport. Only show them Indian passport and produce UK passport when asked.
4. Entered UK using UK passport. Do not take out the Indian passport.

Key points to consider

1. Always take a document that explains the 3 month grace period. Send an email to Info on India Visa in UK <info.inuk@vfshelpline.com>. They will respond within a day or 2. Best to send the email at least a week before travel
2. Not all Indian customs officials know about the rule. You need to explain them and be confident. The more nervous you seem, the more doubtful they will be. They will go to the In charge manager and I was lucky he understood after reading the email from VFS.
3. I was asked to produce a biometric card for my son. I explained that once the naturalisation is done, the biometric card needs to be sent back as it it invalid and illegal to have one(maybe be a bit dramatic about it)
4. Carry the original naturalization letter and also the UK birth certificate. Birth certificate might not be required but wont cause harm to carry.
5. Be confident(i know I'm repeating it) and DO NOT argue or talk rudely or sarcastically(using terms like you are customs guys, you should know this).

Sorry about the long post and feel free to contact me via personal message if you need more information.

[noajthan]

Hi All

Just wanted to share my experience hoping it might help someone.

...

5. Be confident(i know I'm repeating it) and DO NOT argue or talk rudely or sarcastically(using terms like you are customs guys, you should know this).

Sorry about the long post and feel free to contact me via personal message if you need more information.

Never advisable to confuse customs officers with border guards and/or immigration officers.

[anuradhab]

thanks that's very helpful. can you please clarify when your son recvd his UK passport, and where? your post gives me the impression it was applied for and delivered to you in India...?

[secret.simon]

Hi All
Just wanted to share my experience hoping it might help someone.
...
5. Be confident(i know I'm repeating it) and DO NOT argue or talk rudely or sarcastically(using terms like you are customs guys, you should know this).

Sorry about the long post and feel free to contact me via personal message if you need more information.

Never advisable to confuse customs officers with border guards and/or immigration officers.

And never try humour, and sarcasm in particular, with public officials (customs, immigration or police especially) of any South Asian country. It is not their strong point.

As the thread is primarily about travelling to India during the grace period of the Indian passport after acquiring British citizenship, perhaps the mods would consider moving it to the "Other countries" forum.

[zaheeruk]

thanks that's very helpful. can you please clarify when your son recvd his UK passport, and where? your post gives me the impression it was applied for and delivered to you in India...?

sorry for the delayed response. I applied for his passport in UK and carried it to India

[rmukherjee]

Hi All

Just wanted to share my experience hoping it might help someone.

I applied for my son's naturalisation in April 2016. It finally came in August. During this timeframe he travelled to India on July 21st after I asked a lot of forum members about the 3 month grace period. My son returned today and this is how he travelled. Please note that he did not have a valid visa to return

1. Travelled to India on Indian passport. Was not questioned by UK border at birmingham or Indian customs at Delhi on how will he go back. Had a entry stamp in Indian passport at Delhi
2. Got his passport at the end of August.
3. This is the main part now. While returning back from Hyderabad, the Indian customs guy asked why he did not have a visa. I explained to him that he was naturalized in August and he is allowed to travel using his Indian passport within 3 months of naturalization. I showed him Indian passport where the entry stamp was there. I was told that Indian customs will clear my exit in the Indian passport and it is upto UK border to allow me which was possible. The mistake I did was that I showed the UK passport. Only show them Indian passport and produce UK passport when asked.
4. Entered UK using UK passport. Do not take out the Indian passport.

Key points to consider

1. Always take a document that explains the 3 month grace period. Send an email to Info on India Visa in UK <info.inuk@vfshelpline.com>. They will respond within a day or 2. Best to send the email at least a week before travel
2. Not all Indian customs officials know about the rule. You need to explain them and be confident. The more nervous you seem, the more doubtful they will be. They will go to the In charge manager and I was lucky he understood after reading the email from VFS.
3. I was asked to produce a biometric card for my son. I explained that once the naturalisation is done, the biometric card needs to be sent back as it it invalid and illegal to have one(maybe be a bit dramatic about it)
4. Carry the original naturalization letter and also the UK birth certificate. Birth certificate might not be required but wont cause harm to carry.
5. Be confident(i know I'm repeating it) and DO NOT argue or talk rudely or sarcastically(using terms like you are customs guys, you should know this).

Sorry about the long post and feel free to contact me via personal message if you need more information.

This is why travelling on one passport and returning on another is not recommended. You took a chance and it worked out well for you, congratulations. If the Immigration officer had been of a different disposition, you would have been in a lot of trouble and your journey would have been at risk.

Asking people to "chance it" is highly irresponsible and I cannot advise others to follow this course of action. Follow the letter and spirit of the law and surrender your passport as soon as possible!

[rmukherjee]

To be very clear, travelling during the grace period is not a bad idea. What IS a bad idea is entering India using an Indian passport and leaving it using a foreign passport. For the following reasons:

1) Indian law says you should return the Indian passport as soon as possible on acquiring foreign citizenship (i.e, the naturalisation certificate). The grace period of three months starts from there, not from when you get the passport. The immigration officer in India may not be aware of the grace period, or he may not care as he may justifiably claim you had ample time to surrender your Indian passport. After all it only takes 1 week to get a surrender certificate and you can get an e-Visa after that immediately.

2) If you have a British passport and an unsurrendered Indian passport, you have already committed a crime according to Indian law. Whether the Indian immigration agent wants to make life difficult for you or not is up to him. He is at full liberty to block you from leaving India. Do you really want to take chances like that?

3) Because you have an un-surrendered Indian passport, the British government cannot intercede on your behalf. Reference: "As a dual national you can’t get diplomatic help from the British government when you are in the other country where you hold citizenship."

4) You should also be aware that airlines share passport information for all flyers with governments under the APIS scheme.

Note that the assumption here is that you have returned your BRP after getting a naturalisation certificate, as required by the UK government (otherwise you are liable for a fine). So effectively this prevents you from leaving India for the UK using an Indian passport, even during the grace period.

[worldpeace]

Hi all,

We obtained our Naturalization and British Passports in August, 2016.

We had originally planned to use the 3 months grace period to travel to India. However when I discussed with the High Commission Advisory staff over phone, this lady explained to me in details and this was her advice:
"Indian Govt had started the Grace period way of entry into India only as an Emergency way and legally a person is allowed to carry any 1 kind of passport either Indian or British. The actual need to utilize the grace period is in case of emergencies when After Naturalization you have not yet had time to obtain British passport and OCI. In normal cases when the British passport has already been obtained, its not legal to use only those documents and then travel, instead travel confidently with an OCI or Indian Tourist visa. Reason being the officials posted are sometimes not fully updated about this rule, and might have allowed people at times. But going by the rules, it doesn't work when you have obtained your British passport. So plan ahead and apply well in time, to avoid any untoward trouble or confusion (including fines). "
She also said that the grace period starts from the Naturalisation date and has nothing to do with the British passport, as once you are Naturalized with UK, you are no longer an Indian Citizen.

We have followed the advice and are waiting for the OCI to be granted.