Surrendring Indian PP and applying OCI

[Chase53]

Hi gurus,

I have received my Naturalisation approval yesterday and have booked ceremony for 18th Oct.

And I imagine I will receive my naturalisation certificate on the day of the ceremony.

Iam planning to surrender my Indian PP on 19th with just the Naturalisation certificate and a covering letter why I am not including the British passport (which I wouldn't be receiving yet on the day of the vcs appointment).

And my questions are:
1) Will this be ok?
2) How long will it take to receive the Surrendered certificate
3) Can I immediately apply for OCI?
4) What are the documents needed?
4) How long will OCI take to arrive?

Thanks in advance!

[rmukherjee]

Hi gurus,

I have received my Naturalisation approval yesterday and have booked ceremony for 18th Oct.

And I imagine I will receive my naturalisation certificate on the day of the ceremony.

Iam planning to surrender my Indian PP on 19th with just the Naturalisation certificate and a covering letter why I am not including the British passport (which I wouldn't be receiving yet on the day of the vcs appointment).

And my questions are:
1) Will this be ok?
2) How long will it take to receive the Surrendered certificate
3) Can I immediately apply for OCI?
4) What are the documents needed?
4) How long will OCI take to arrive?

Thanks in advance!

In theory you should be able to surrender your passport as just showing the naturalisation certificate ought to be enough. In practice VFS and the Indian consulate want to see your UK passport also. So the answer to "is this ok" is - I don't know, perhaps you can ask the VFS helpline. Normally people get the UK passport before surrendering the Indian one.

It takes 1 week max to receive the surrender certificate.

For OCI you definitely need the UK passport. You won't get an OCI booklet without a passport as the booklet is an "addendum" to the passport and is notionally tied to the passport.

Documents required for OCI are documented here. See the Documents Required section.

OCI wil take 6 weeks + 1-2 weeks in the best case. Sometimes it takes longer.

[Chase53]

Hi gurus,

I have received my Naturalisation approval yesterday and have booked ceremony for 18th Oct.

And I imagine I will receive my naturalisation certificate on the day of the ceremony.

Iam planning to surrender my Indian PP on 19th with just the Naturalisation certificate and a covering letter why I am not including the British passport (which I wouldn't be receiving yet on the day of the vcs appointment).

And my questions are:
1) Will this be ok?
2) How long will it take to receive the Surrendered certificate
3) Can I immediately apply for OCI?
4) What are the documents needed?
4) How long will OCI take to arrive?

Thanks in advance!

In theory you should be able to surrender your passport as just showing the naturalisation certificate ought to be enough. In practice VFS and the Indian consulate want to see your UK passport also. So the answer to "is this ok" is - I don't know, perhaps you can ask the VFS helpline. Normally people get the UK passport before surrendering the Indian one.

It takes 1 week max to receive the surrender certificate.

For OCI you definitely need the UK passport. You won't get an OCI booklet without a passport as the booklet is an "addendum" to the passport and is notionally tied to the passport.

Documents required for OCI are documented here. See the Documents Required section.

OCI wil take 6 weeks + 1-2 weeks in the best case. Sometimes it takes longer.

Thank you @rmukherjee for replying and the details. And my question without the new british passport was only for surrendring the Indian passport. Iam going to apply for OCI once I receive both my british passport and Surrendring certificate.

Also to let everyone else know, I called Vfs global and they said its ok to surrender my Indian passport with just the naturalisation certificate however I have to submit a self declaration letter why Iam not submitting my British passport along with the application. Hope it helps others.

[haiksuresh]

Hi gurus,

I have received my Naturalisation approval yesterday and have booked ceremony for 18th Oct.

And I imagine I will receive my naturalisation certificate on the day of the ceremony.

Iam planning to surrender my Indian PP on 19th with just the Naturalisation certificate and a covering letter why I am not including the British passport (which I wouldn't be receiving yet on the day of the vcs appointment).

And my questions are:
1) Will this be ok?
2) How long will it take to receive the Surrendered certificate
3) Can I immediately apply for OCI?
4) What are the documents needed?
4) How long will OCI take to arrive?

Thanks in advance!

Hi Chase53,
Could you please let us know , whether you managed to apply surrender certificate without British Passport. Could you please share your experience and also provide update when you receive the surrender certificate.

Regards,
Suresh

[haiksuresh]

Could you please let me know what are all we need to submit in originals ? and also do we need to include any special delivery envelops ?


Regards,
Suresh

[rmukherjee]

Could you please let me know what are all we need to submit in originals ? and also do we need to include any special delivery envelops ?

Yes you do need to include a Special Delivery envelope (or courier envelope if your VFS Centre has that facility). I strongly recommend an A4 sized hard envelope like these with a Special Delivery stamp on them (your post office should be able to put a special delivery stamp on whatever envelope you give them, it's not necessary to use the standard thin plastic envelopes), as I've had surrender certificates come back in a fairly "crumpled" state.


Here's the list of documents from the VFS Site. Basically you need your original Indian passport:

• Original Indian Passport (Last/Valid Indian passport at the time of Naturalization)
• Self-attested photocopy of Indian passport (All used pages)
• Two recent 50 mm * 50 mm size photographs. Please check the Photo Specification.
• Self-attested photocopy of the current British / Foreign Passport (Only the photo page) Note: If the applicant has had more than one British passports since naturalisation, They are required to submit the original first British passport & self-attested photocopies of all the pages of the first British passport.
• Self-attested photocopy of British / Foreign Naturalisation certificate. If UK Passport has not yet been obtained, a declaration from the Applicant stating "My UK passport is under process" should be submitted.
• If the applicant is born in UK /abroad and obtained foreign/British Nationality on the basis of Birth in the country and not by naturalisation then applicant is required to provide a photocopy of the full Birth Certificate.
• Applicants applying under Deemed Surrender Certificate category are required to submit the photocopy of the last Indian passport and first British passport in addition to the above applicable documents.

They also say: This list is not exhaustive and does not guarantee a Surrender Certificate. The High Commission of India or its Consulates reserve the right to ask for additional documents if required.

[haiksuresh]

If UK Passport has not yet been obtained, a declaration from the Applicant stating "My UK passport is under process" should be submitted.

Hi Mate,
Do you have any template of the letter for the above please share with us, It will be helpful.

Regards,
Suresh

[Chase53]

Hi gurus,

I have received my Naturalisation approval yesterday and have booked ceremony for 18th Oct.

And I imagine I will receive my naturalisation certificate on the day of the ceremony.

Iam planning to surrender my Indian PP on 19th with just the Naturalisation certificate and a covering letter why I am not including the British passport (which I wouldn't be receiving yet on the day of the vcs appointment).

And my questions are:
1) Will this be ok?
2) How long will it take to receive the Surrendered certificate
3) Can I immediately apply for OCI?
4) What are the documents needed?
4) How long will OCI take to arrive?

Thanks in advance!

Hi Chase53,
Could you please let us know , whether you managed to apply surrender certificate without British Passport. Could you please share your experience and also provide update when you receive the surrender certificate.

Regards,
Suresh

Hi Suresh, Sorry I just saw your post. Actually I received my passport a day before my appointment, so I carried my passport with me to the centre.

[rmukherjee]

Do you have any template of the letter for the above please share with us, It will be helpful.

A simple letter stating the facts should work. Something like this:

To
The Indian High Commission / Deputy High Commission
XXXX

This is to declare that I, name, holder of Indian passport number xxxx, have taken British citizenship by naturalisation on date. However I have not yet applied for / not yet received my British passport. I now wish to surrender my Indian passport and are making an application for this with VFS.

I have enclosed a copy of my naturalisation certificate and am also carrying the original naturalisation certificate with me to VFS.

With Kind Regards
XXX

[haiksuresh]

Hi,
One more question. To book an appointment for surrender certificate, i need to provide "OCI Registration Number". Could some one help me, what should i provide for "OCI Registration Number"

Regards,
Suresh

[tjoseph]

Hi,
One more question. To book an appointment for surrender certificate, i need to provide "OCI Registration Number". Could some one help me, what should i provide for "OCI Registration Number"

Regards,
Suresh

I provided my indian passport number, i'm not sure why they haven't corrected it as yet.