British citizenship and PIO card obtained in 2005

[quantumscience]

Hi

Sorry I could not post the most relevant text in the subject because of the length restrictions.

Anyway, my question is this... How do I surrender my old cancelled india passports.

the reason I ask is this... When I got my british citizenship in 2005 and also immediately as required got my pio card as well immediately before any travel to India, I did take my Indian passports to the mission and they cancelled it and gave it back to me. I did not ask them to be returned, but they did that themselves.

So the cancelled ones remained with me since then.

The old expired passport clearly has the stamp "British Nationality acquired" and they have also cut the corners of the passport.

Now when I read the vfs site, it looks like everyone should have a surrender certificate otherwise future pio renewals will not be allowed!!!!!

Why are they complicating this.... It is not my fault to have not returned it. I did return it when applying for pio card, but they returned it back to me after cutting the corners of the passport. It's not my fault.

Anyway, the site also says that if I return the old cancelled passport now, they won't issue me a surrender certificate.

But it also says that when I go for my pio card renewal later on, I will need to give them my Indian passport surrender certificate. This sounds like catch 22.

Does anyone know how to deal with is situation?

Thanks

[quantumscience]

Guys

Resurrecting the thread again please... has anyone got any advise on this please.
I am sure there must be several people who have got their citizenship before 2010 when all this surrender certificate process was introduced, and hence those who have got their old cancelled passports with them + PIO approved and not having SC certificates in hand.

Thanks.

[ban.s]

You just need to get a formal surrender certificate through VFS - submit your old cancelled passport along with the application.

PIOs, who acquired foreign nationality on or before 31.05.2010 and produced last held Indian passport, will be issued 'Surrender Certificate' on payment of miscellaneous service fee of £ 18.00 plus applicable charges including Consular Surcharge of £ 2.00 and applicable charges for M/s VFS (UK). Penalty for misuse of Indian passport would be imposed if the last held Indian passport expired on or after 1.1.2005 and it is retained beyond three years i.e. not surrendered or the PIO travelled on this passport beyond the grace period of three months or the validity of the last held Indian passport was renewed after acquiring foreign nationality;

[quantumscience]

Hi ban.s

Thanks for your answer. Really appreciate it.
I will formally apply then.
In the meantime i had also sent them an email but they have not yet responded on my clarification requests.

The other thing is, i have 2 booklets of the passport though... one was my first passport and the other one that i had got from HC when I had applied to get "additional booklet" since i had no more pages for visa stamping in the first one.

Of course this additional booklet was applied and obtained, quite a while back well before my British naturalisation.

The thing is the additional passport booklet had the same expiry date (which is understandable - since it is only an extension / additional booklet) but it does have its own passport number though.

Now, which passport number should i quote in the surrender certificate form? Is it one or the other or both?
Would i have to request a SC for each one?

Just so you know - Both are mine , and both have same expiry date, but the second one is the "additional booklet" (the booklet itself has a stamp saying this booklet is an extension of the other one in its last page).

Just to avoid future complications, hence my question. Should i quote just one or the other or both and should i add a cover letter to request SC for each one, etc.

Head is spinning really, given there is no information to these doubts.

In the VFS premium line number that i called up to inquire, they were unable to answer these question

I tried to call HCI london, and i have never been able to get through. I have tried every single day, various times during the day, etc. No luck.

[ban.s]

I would include the main (first) passport number.
Should be fine in my opinion as it's just a formality in your case.

[quantumscience]

Thanks ban.s

I have now received my SC

The paper arrived in the post a bit crumpled though , the data inside is all right and readable.

I have tried to straighten the paper (by keeping it inside a thick book) and it looks all right, but the paper still shows off the crumpling

Should i worry about this (since this will be required in future for all services with Indian consulate), and apply again and request for new copy or it does not matter, you think (as long as it is readable)?

[ban.s]

good stuff should be fine..just keep one or two photocopies for any future reference

[vivdubes]

I would also say convert yourself to OCI from PIO if you are elligible. With that you wont have to get bothered renewing your PIOs every 15 years.