Renounce OCI

Hello everyone

I have two quick questions. It will be great to have some thoughts on it.

Resident in UK.

1. I have an OCI which I wish to renounce/rescind for now. Any thought how do I do that. I read somewhere that Form XXII need to be filled. Do we need to submit this in person or can be done online
2. If at some point later (in a few years) I again wish to apply for an OCI, is it possible to get it back. Why I am asking this is because after getting my OCI cancelled I will not have any surrender certificate etc. which I submitted along with my first application for OCI.

Any points will be deeply appreciated

I am not sure if anyone else has surrendered their OCI only to later reapply for the OCI. I guess that you would have to go through the entire process and pay the fees all over again as the Government of India would need to do their security checks. They might require you to explain the reason why you surrendered the OCI in the first place, so make sure you have a genuine and compelling reason why you had to give up your OCI document.

An example of a geniune reason would to be to obtain a party ticket to stand for elections. For example, in Australia, parties require you to renounce an OCI/foreign citizenship before you can obtain a party ticket to stand in national elections. However, being a government leader does not appear to be an exemption for an OCI given that the OCI was given to the Portuguese PM Antonio Costa.

The exclusion criteria for obtaining an OCI has increased since the scheme was first announced. Initially there were few restrictions on the eligibility, but over time, additional restrictions started to pop up such as ineligibility for those working as defence contractors and the police. So, there might be a chance in the future that you might be ineligible to take up OCI if your profession is deemed ineligible.

You may also provide proof of the previous OCI (so make sure you keep notarised copies of OCI document before you surrender it.

Thank you for your reply. It has given me some clear thoughts on various perspectives.

I guess there is no straight forward process to actually surrender an OCI. It might be possible, but it seems like an indirect and futile approach that looks to be unnecessary.

I guess the word "citizenship" in OCI causes confusion for foreign authorities, whereas the truth is that OCI has nothing to do with citizenship of India and one only gets an OCI after renunciation of citizenship.

Thanks again

Cheers

You are right. OCI name is just so wrong to begin with. They should rename it something more meaningful.