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Hi all,

I moved to the USA recently and just before I left I had applied for registration for both my kids. One of my friends sent the certificate to me here. I then applied for the British passports here in the USA. The mistake I committed was I laminated the certificates. Now the Regional British Passport office in Washington DC says that I need to apply for duplicate certificate as they do not accept originals. I duly filled the forms and couriered my application to the UKBA Liverpool office. They received it on May 8 and nothing has happened since then. I am stranded because I need to travel soon. I cant use the old passports (anyway they are with the Regional British Passport office in Washington DC) as the kids cease to be Indian citizens the day they got British citizenship. Do you know how long they take to send a duplicate certificate? Can I expedite in any way?

Thanks a lot.

edited.

Thanks, ban.s. Unfortunately it is going to be beyond three months. I guess I can still travel beyond 3 months and pay a fine while applying for an OCI. However, I am concerned that it may amount to some sort of fraud / criminal offense. You have to write your citizenship on the landing card in India and it will be a lie if you write Indian. Even if the kids do not have British passports, they are now British citizens. So I am not sure what to do.

Holding indian passport in conjunction with foreign citizenship is an offence under Indian passport act and one needs to renounce citizenship.
You have to take a decision based on your personal circumstances and urgency of travel that whether the situation demands travel with Indian passport. The penalty is £145 or equivalent foreign curreny for each travel.

sorry, we have digressed from the original topic.
over to someone else to confirm how duplicate certificate issue can be expedited.

edited.

Many thanks for getting back to me. Yes, I am waiting for somebody to get back to me on my original question (i.e. how long does it take to get a replacement certificate). Or was it only me who thought laminating the registration certificate is a great idea

ban.s wrote:Until you formally renounce your citizenship you are also an Indian, and if you were to write the same in landing card, it won't be any fraud. However, holding indian passport in conjunction with foreign citizenship is an offence under Indian passport act and one needs to renounce citizenship.
You have to take a decision based on your personal circumstances and urgency of travel that whether the situation demands travel with Indian passport. The penalty is £145 or equivalent foreign curreny for each travel.

sorry, we have digressed from the original topic.
over to someone else to confirm how duplicate certificate issue can be expedited.

your situation is not unique

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=134039

Not true. As soon as someone gains a foreign citizenship, they automatically loose their Indian Citizenship. Indian citizenship act 1955 is very clear about this.

This renounce-the-Indian-citizenship procedure is to record that someone has gained foreign citizenship. Otherwise Indian authorities would never know when someone gains another citizenship and hence loses Indian citizenship.

I think the best way forward for you is to travel with your kids on their Indian passports and then pay the penalty to Indian High commission when you surrender passports.

Hi all,

I had sent my replacement certificate request to

Home Office
PO Box 306
Dept 102
Liverpool
L2 0QN

They do not have any information on the processing time in their website. Can anybody tell me how can I contact them? Is there a phone number?

Thanks

Thank you.

Ayyubi72 wrote:Not true. As soon as someone gains a foreign citizenship, they automatically loose their Indian Citizenship. Indian citizenship act 1955 is very clear about this.

This renounce-the-Indian-citizenship procedure is to record that someone has gained foreign citizenship. Otherwise Indian authorities would never know when someone gains another citizenship and hence loses Indian citizenship.

I think the best way forward for you is to travel with your kids on their Indian passports and then pay the penalty to Indian High commission when you surrender passports.

I saw some credit card activity in my account 2 days ago. However, only 94 pound is debited. I had applied for both my kids and was expecting them to charge 94 each. I had sent both the applications in a single envelope. Should I be concerned. Is it possible that they might not have seen one application?

spbos wrote:I saw some credit card activity in my account 2 days ago. However, only 94 pound is debited. I had applied for both my kids and was expecting them to charge 94 each. I had sent both the applications in a single envelope. Should I be concerned. Is it possible that they might not have seen one application?

I think you are just in panic mode. You need to chill out. How could someone speculate if they have not seen one out of two in the same application? What do you think? If a paper was physically in the envelope, then why would they not see it? These things take time, sometimes a long time. There isn't much that you can do every time to rush the procedure. Its not my intention at all to make personal remarks, but you took multiple wrong decisions. First you laminated the documents, then you made a application for replacement from outside UK. Now you seem to be in utter panic and great rush. You should have applied for replacement certs from UK. Getting these things done from outside UK is never a good idea. I personally know people who had to wait even 18 months to get a passport issued for their kids outside UK. Best course of action would always be "do it when you are in UK".

Your post is well meaning. Thank you. Yes, ideally I should have got the passports from the UK itself. However, I have moved out of the country and hence I had to apply for the passport / replacement certificates from abroad. I agree it was a mistake to laminate the certificates, obvious I did not know. By the way, I know a few people who got their British Passports from outside UK within 6 weeks. I still admit applying from the UK would have been better.
Yes, I am in an utter panic mode. The reason is - I have to travel soon and I do not want to travel on Indian passports after taking British citizenship. I know I will get away with it in the future by paying a fine. However, it still does not sound correct to me.

I do not want anybody to speculate. I just want somebody to let me know if they went through this and what was their experience. It sometime gives a perspective.

Rather than perspective, I would say, explore your options.

Option 1.

Wait for the certificates to be issued, and then wait for the passports. Amend your travel plans accordingly. Keep in mind, there is no set time frame for this option. Could be a month, two months, three months, any period really.

Option 2.
Travel on Indian passports, and pay the penalty while surrendering.

In my opinion, option 2 is the best. Apart from spending a bit more money while surrendering, there are no other pitfalls. No other stress or waiting game required. Using this option will not end it being the end of the world, or bring some kind of calamities, or arrests, or court case, or prosecution or deportation to Guantanamo bay.

I would say, why not use option 2, and be happy.

I now pronounce the case closed, and there is no right of appeal.

Thanks. Your option 2 is my plan B any way. In the mean time I will wait for the progress on the British passport front...

Hello there i have applied for duplicate British citizenship certificate and waiting for a while since you been through this I was wondering if you could share the time frame you had to wait to receive your certificate.

Appreciated for your help
Regards

Humayu

Humayu wrote:Hello there i have applied for duplicate British citizenship certificate and waiting for a while since you been through this I was wondering if you could share the time frame you had to wait to receive your certificate.

Appreciated for your help
Regards

Humayu

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