Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI)

Dear experts,

would really appreciate any advice on the below, as am quite confused about the best steps!

thanks in advance

ociaapplicant2014 wrote:Hello, have been reading these boards for a while, really hope someone can help with my query!

My situation:

-I am about to apply for my OCI card via post
-I was naturalized as a UK citizen in September 2013, and received my UK passport shortly thereafter
-I have received a surrender certificate for my Indian passport
-I was born in Kenya to Indian passport-holding parents, and have held an Indian passport for 20+ years (before surrendering it this month)

My Query:
-Do I need to submit a copy of my birth certificate, issued at the time of my birth by Kenyan authorities?
-Do I need to send my original birth certificate? (this document is in English, and specifies my parent's Indian nationalities)
-Do I need to send my original (cancelled) Indian passport, which I surrendered this month to VfS?

Thanks very much for all your help!

Hi anonimouse,
Royal mail charges £6.95 for a Special Delivery envelope weighing upto 500g. You send out your British passport(s) and the Online status report (showing docs received in HCI). What HCI send back to you is your British passport with a OCI visa stamped on it and a passport-like OCI registration booklet of 5 pages.
In my case, 3 British passports and 3 OCI booklets together weighed about 300g. So the £6.95 postage is ample. Of course note the Tracking number.

Regards,
RPM

Thanks forbc123 and rpm_ctbt.

I sent my brother's and my passport via SD today and enclosed the prepaid envelope + the confirmation. The total weight came to around 92g and total cost of £13.17 - if anyone wants know. Now crossing my fingers and wait...

ociaapplicant2014 wrote:Dear experts,

would really appreciate any advice on the below, as am quite confused about the best steps!

thanks in advance

ociaapplicant2014 wrote:Hello, have been reading these boards for a while, really hope someone can help with my query!

My situation:

-I am about to apply for my OCI card via post
-I was naturalized as a UK citizen in September 2013, and received my UK passport shortly thereafter
-I have received a surrender certificate for my Indian passport
-I was born in Kenya to Indian passport-holding parents, and have held an Indian passport for 20+ years (before surrendering it this month)

My Query:
-Do I need to submit a copy of my birth certificate, issued at the time of my birth by Kenyan authorities?
-Do I need to send my original birth certificate? (this document is in English, and specifies my parent's Indian nationalities)
-Do I need to send my original (cancelled) Indian passport, which I surrendered this month to VfS?

Thanks very much for all your help!

Hi there,

Firstly make sureb you got checklist as mentioned in the HCI website
Secondly. what is confusion about all this?
you have show them your original surrender certificate - you got it
you need not send them cancelled passport - your surrender certificate is proof of cancellation

I was not asked for certificate of birth when i went to apply in person for OCI, but few people were asked in other counter and some were asked to get parents marriage certificate etc...this was specific to one 1 guy and i really do not know further deteails

If you think your OCI application process is not very clear in your case - my suggestion is why not you go to HCI London in person and if you don't face any problem it is a job well done. If you are asked just in case it is important for you to know why they asked you for documents

or

you can also apply by post - HCI should contact you in case they need additional information

Either ways you can get job done - upto you really

I am about to apply for OCI card for my 6 month old son who is British (by birth).
I am British (by naturalisation) and already have an OCI card. My wife is Indian.
Could some one please tell me which documents do I need to submit with my son's application form?

I intend to submit the following -
1 My son's birth certificate.
2 Photocopy of my son's passport (main page)
3. My original surrender certificate.
4 Photocopy of my passport's main page.

Do i need to submit my wife's Indian passport as well?

The Indian High Commission website mentions that the tokens are issued from 10am to 12:30 pm and that the applications are accepted from 10:30. if I go there in person, what time should i be there by to collect the token?
Does any


Thanks.
Rajeev

Hi there

Sweating over my own OCI application (leave for India with my two baby daughters on 18 Feb) - I had no idea that you had to post your passport for collection from 13 Jan 2014. When did that change and why was it not more prominent on the HCI website?

Can someone please tell me whetehr the Status Enquiry updates for when your passports are received by Royal Mail and then dispatched? I noticed that some people have this in their posts. Mine was received by HCI on Monday 27th Jan but I see no update.

Thanks

Sanjay

Hi there

Sweating over my own OCI application (leave for India with my two baby daughters on 18 Feb) - I had no idea that you had to post your passport for collection from 13 Jan 2014. When did that change and why was it not more prominent on the HCI website?

Can someone please tell me whether the Status Enquiry updates for when your passports are received by Royal Mail and then dispatched? I noticed that some people have this in their posts. Mine was received by HCI on Monday 27th Jan but I see no update.

Thanks

Sanjay

Hi All

Received my OCI booklet from HCI London yesterday

My Time line

Date Of Application : 04-DEC-2013 (Royal Mail SD)
Date Of Acknowledgment : 20-DEC-2013
Documents Printing Status PROCESSED : 15-JAN-2014
Dispatched From MOIA (OCI )NEW DELHI : 17-JAN-2014
Document received At LONDON : 20-JAN-2014
Passport sent for stamping : 21-JAN-2014 (Royal Mail SD)
Passport Received from HCI LONDON : 28-JAN-2014

Thanks guys for all the updates and answers and all the best for everyone who are in the process now

sanjaysheth wrote:Hi there

Sweating over my own OCI application (leave for India with my two baby daughters on 18 Feb) - I had no idea that you had to post your passport for collection from 13 Jan 2014. When did that change and why was it not more prominent on the HCI website?

Can someone please tell me whether the Status Enquiry updates for when your passports are received by Royal Mail and then dispatched? I noticed that some people have this in their posts. Mine was received by HCI on Monday 27th Jan but I see no update.

Thanks

Sanjay

Hi Sanjay ,

I didnt have any change in the status page after sending the passport for OCI collection ..I used the royal mail tracking provision to check whether or not my passport has been posted back . I believe you would have noted down tracking number of the self addressed envelope that you have sent , use that number to see when they are posting the passport back to you .

Many thanks

I got both passports back today, relieved and happy; it took 3 days turn-around.
Thanks for your help.

Use this to track your delivery, instead of the main page on RM site. This delivers more accurate information and shows you the details of where the package is in the system.

http://www.royalmail.com/trackdetails

Many thanks. I have been using the tracking service on Royal Mail - it says my original packet was delivered at HCI on Monday but there is no information on the return SAE. That would make sense to me - no nformation until HCI have dispatched it? Or did you have a status for your Special delivery SAE from the start?

Apart from the tragedy of this sudden change in procedure, it's at least a source of comfort I can get some idea of your experiences. I've tried to ring the HCI about 20+ times and only once got through (and he had no clue).

I've also sent multiple e-mails, and only ahd one response which said it should take 2-3 days. My Plan B is to obviously retrieve the passports and get a tourist visa - but I wonder how easy that would be to do from HCI!

Thanks again

Sanjay

Hi Sanjay
I am in the same boat, mine was delivered to HCI by Royalmail on Monday and still tracking my return envelope.Thank you very much for your information about the phone and the e-mail to HCI
please keep updating

Hi Sajiv

Thanks for your post. When were your documents processed and ready to collect (mine was 13 Dec)? Does your reply envelope tracking also say "Please Come Back Later"?

I wish the HCI would add the collections procedure to their online processing data than for us to pay Royal Mail to do the same - I'm sure it's a matter of time before they do.

Anyone else have any experiences of retrieving their passports from the OCI counter to get a Tourist Visa?

So annoyed at this late change in procedure - totaly unncessary stress which could have been avoided with some notification when I applied in mid-Nov!

Kind regards

Sanjay

sanjaysheth wrote:Hi Sajiv

Thanks for your post. When were your documents processed and ready to collect (mine was 13 Dec)? Does your reply envelope tracking also say "Please Come Back Later"?

I wish the HCI would add the collections procedure to their online processing data than for us to pay Royal Mail to do the same - I'm sure it's a matter of time before they do.

Anyone else have any experiences of retrieving their passports from the OCI counter to get a Tourist Visa?

So annoyed at this late change in procedure - totaly unncessary stress which could have been avoided with some notification when I applied in mid-Nov!

Kind regards

Sanjay

Sanjay,

There is no point dwelling on the procedure that has changed - I felt the same way. The procedure changed on the very day I was about to go down to collect OCI. Fortunately, I found out here and saved myself some stress and definitely would have lost my cool if I did go down there ;--))

Now, as for tracking the SAE/SD envelope it will not start tracking until it leaves HCI - keep checking on the link I have posted above. DO NOT use the main RM tracker as it will intermittently tell you to come back later as you have found.

I don't think you can go to the OCI Section in Aldwych to collect or apply for a Tourist visa?

Best of Luck.

PS: I would also suggest you don't bombard them with email and telephone calls, they will not take to it very kindly if you understand what I mean. Stay calm and it will all happen.

Thanks - sensible advice. It's only stressful because I'm flying out on the 18th for a wedding and my passports are now out of my control!

That link you sent doesn't work for my Special delivery: keeps saying it doesn't recognise the tracking ID. I've been using: http://www.royalmail.com/track-trace (which is similar).

You can't get a tourist visa any more from HCI, but as I'm flying on the 18th Feb, my Plan B would be to retrieve my passports and then apply for a tourist visa via their outsourcing service. But not sure how far I'd get even with a cheery smile if I rocked up at Aldwych...(it's not like I could even drop off my passport by hand - I had to go to the Post Office across the road and pay £7 for the privilege!)

Cheers

Sanjay

Actually, your link does work for my outward mail - it's very detailed. It won't work for the return because it obviously hasn't been sent out as yet.

Thanks

Sajiv - does your final delivery when you sent show the following? Doesn't sound like HCI to me although was signed by someone called "Manju"?

Date

Time

Status

Track point




27/01/14

09:46

DELIVERED27/01/14

EASTERN CENTRAL CITY

Hi Sanjay
Yes it was signed by Manju and it was on 27th Monday, the time was 9.48am.I think Manju is the person dealing with all mails.OCI status enquiry site does not show anything about the Royal mail at all as you know.According do some posts in this page the passport has been returned in 4 days.

Best Regards
Sajiv

Hi Sanjay and every one

I have received my passport today and OCI booklet.

passport posted to HCI by Special Delivery...24/01/14
Delivered to HCI on...27th
passport and OCI posted back from HCI on...30th
Delivered to me on 31/01/14

Best Regards
Sajiv

Many congrats. When did you first see tracking information in the Royal Mail site for your SAE? Was it on the 30th?

Your timelines are exactly the same as mine so far except for the end result!

Hi All,

I sent my british passport for OCI stamping last wednesday.

When HCI returned the document Royal mail lost the documents in transit i.e. My British passport and OCI booklet are now lost.

I wrote mail to HCI this morning and they asked me to send the copy of the British passport and OCI booklet and report from Police.

Even though i told them never recieved the documents; they insist on supplying the copies of the British passport visa page and OCI booklet...

I need to travel in April and i am not sure if i can get another British passport and OCI within that time.

Any ideas would be really helpful.

Many thanks in advance.

Sorry to hear that. Did the HCI send your documents back via Special Delivery?

You have plenty of time to get a replacement British passport - you can get one in one day if you book an appointment and pay the fees although you have time to just get one in the standard 10 days:

https://www.gov.uk/get-a-passport-urgently

I guess if your paperwork is already done there is no reason why you can't also get a replacement quickly? Ask the HCI. Else, if time is tight just get a Tourist Visa which takes 3 days.

Best wishes

Sanjay

[quote="sanjaysheth"]Sorry to hear that. Did the HCI send your documents back via Special Delivery?

You have plenty of time to get a replacement British passport - you can get one in one day if you book an appointment and pay the fees although you have time to just get one in the standard 10 days:

https://www.gov.uk/get-a-passport-urgently

I guess if your paperwork is already done there is no reason why you can't also get a replacement quickly? Ask the HCI. Else, if time is tight just get a Tourist Visa which takes 3 days.

Best wishes

Sanjay[/quote]


Yes... it was indeed in the special delivery... I sent the prepaid special delivery post along with passport and the OCI print out status ... on the return the post reached till the local depot and went missing after that ....

urgent passports are not available for lost cases ... same process apparently ... apply .. check and send .. interview .. blah blah blah ...

That's a shocker. I just can't believe Royal Mail's 'Guaranteed' service could not deliver (but that's why some of us are stressed as it could easily happen to us).

At what stage was your SAR traceable online? As soon as HCI had posted it? I'm getting an error message on mine continuously which is worrying me.