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Vohram
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by Vohram » Mon Aug 30, 2021 3:09 pm
Dear All,
We have just received our approval for citizenship and need to attend the citizenship ceremony in the next 3 months (i.e. around last week of November). I know that our Indian passport becomes invalid once we have attended the naturalisation ceremony.
The issue is that due to a personal reason we really need to visit India in mid December and given that all tourist visas are suspended currently the only way to visit is either holding Indian PP or OCI. I have been trawling VFS website but appointments are hard to come by.
Based on your experience you think i have sufficient time to attend the ceremony, obtain British PP, surrender indian PP and apply for OCI all before December?
Is there an alternative i should consider (i dont want my citizenship ceremony to lapse)
Thanks all
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dontringthebell
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by dontringthebell » Mon Aug 30, 2021 5:47 pm
Please consider:
- British Passport arrives mostly within 10 days of citizenship ceremony if you applied together, else it can take 2-3 weeks easy.
You may Surrender Indian Passport before or after obtaining British passport, it takes under a week, max 10 days.
VFS appointments can be booked between 7:30-8:30 UK Time from oci website.
You must have Surrender Certificate before applying for OCI.
.
However,
You can travel to India on an Indian passport and be back in under three months from acquiring British citizenship, I.e. Naturalisation ceremony as long as you don't obtain British passport prior to your travel back and forth. Simply put if your travel is for less than 3 months get Naturalisation go and come back and then do the rest. I would however not risk it since, these days you never know with covid related cancellations how long you could be stuck. I travelled for three weeks last December and could only return 2 months later.
https://www.hcilondon.gov.in/page/surre ... -passport/Don't misconstrue my views for professional immigration advice, just trying to give back to a community that helped me through my journey.
WP-> HSMP-> Tier 2G D-> ILR-> BC-> OCI
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CR001
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by CR001 » Mon Aug 30, 2021 6:00 pm
dontringthebell wrote: ↑Mon Aug 30, 2021 5:47 pm
Please consider:
- British Passport arrives mostly within 10 days of citizenship ceremony if you applied together, else it can take 2-3 weeks easy.
Please note that there is no service anymore where you apply for a British passport at the same time as applying for naturalisation. The joint application service was withdrawn in November 2018.
HMPO website clearly states that a passport can take up to 10 weeks currently.
Char (CR001 not Casa)
In life you cannot press the Backspace button!!
Please DO NOT send me a PM for immigration advice. I reserve the right to ignore the PM and not respond.
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Vohram
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by Vohram » Mon Aug 30, 2021 8:10 pm
dontringthebell wrote: ↑Mon Aug 30, 2021 5:47 pm
However,
You can travel to India on an Indian passport and be back in under three months from acquiring British citizenship, I.e. Naturalisation ceremony as long as you don't obtain British passport prior to your travel back and forth. Simply put if your travel is for less than 3 months get Naturalisation go and come back and then do the rest. I would however not risk it since, these days you never know with covid related cancellations how long you could be stuck. I travelled for three weeks last December and could only return 2 months later.
https://www.hcilondon.gov.in/page/surre ... -passport/
Thanks a lot!! I actually wasn't aware of such rule. However how will I get back into the UK on Indian passport since I'm required to return the BRP right after the ceremony and it becomes invalid anyways. I'm not sure the naturalisation certificate would suffice both in India and in UK.
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dontringthebell
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by dontringthebell » Mon Aug 30, 2021 9:58 pm
I can't advise you to go against the rules though, you must research further.
Don't misconstrue my views for professional immigration advice, just trying to give back to a community that helped me through my journey.
WP-> HSMP-> Tier 2G D-> ILR-> BC-> OCI
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Vohram
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by Vohram » Tue Aug 31, 2021 9:37 am
Thank you all!!
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ar1234
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by ar1234 » Wed Sep 01, 2021 1:45 pm
Vohram wrote: ↑Mon Aug 30, 2021 3:09 pm
Dear All,
We have just received our approval for citizenship and need to attend the citizenship ceremony in the next 3 months (i.e. around last week of November). I know that our Indian passport becomes invalid once we have attended the naturalisation ceremony.
The issue is that due to a personal reason we really need to visit India in mid December and given that all tourist visas are suspended currently the only way to visit is either holding Indian PP or OCI. I have been trawling VFS website but appointments are hard to come by.
Based on your experience you think i have sufficient time to attend the ceremony, obtain British PP, surrender indian PP and apply for OCI all before December?
Is there an alternative i should consider (i dont want my citizenship ceremony to lapse)
Thanks all
there is a grace period of 3 months following citizenship ceremony that allows you to travel on Indian PP. read the FAQs on the link below:
https://www.hcilondon.gov.in/page/surre ... -passport/
