Travel to India on Indian passport after British citizenship

[redmonster]

Hi -

I have seen other similar questions here but none with my specific question.

I recently acquired British nationality & have a British passport. I need to travel to India urgently for a short visit. I still have my Indian passport and am within the three month grace period (as outlined on http://www.vfsglobal.com/india/uk/Surrender.html). This implies that I should be able to travel on my Indian passport without facing any problems or penalties.

However, I have a question - what passport do I present at what stage? I anticipate a problem - I can enter India on my Indian passport, no problem.

On exit from India, I could either:
1. show them my Indian passport, but they will want to see a valid British visa - which I do not have, since I had to surrender my biometric residence permit. Will they allow me to exit without a visa?
2. Show them my British passport - but this does not have an entry stamp for India.
3. Show them both passports and explain the situation. Will this work or am I going to have problems?

Although I am within the three month grace period, I'm not sure how this would work on the ground and I want to avoid any problems - but don't have much time before I need to travel.

Advice & links to official documentation appreciated.

Thanks!

[ukcalling]

Hi , I am in the exact situation as you are. Any response to your query would be appreciated. thanks

[madi_53]

Hi,

Any response for the above Query. I am also in the same situation and need to travel..

Thanks

[NiharMathur]

I can't really answer your question directly, but am assuming the only reason you would want to travel on the Indian Passport is the amount of time it takes to get a travel visa.
When I received my British Passport, I already had a holiday planned to India in the next 3 weeks. As soon as I got the British passport, I applied for the online e-Visa on the indianvisaonline.gov.in website
The application was submitted around noon on a Sunday. I was actually very pleasantly surprised when I woke up on Monday that at 3:30 am earlier that morning, my Visa had already been received in my email.

I may have had an extremely lucky experience here, but I still think you can get the visa in 72 hours. The online application process is also not very complicated. A lot of questions, but no rocket science.

Hope this helps!

[heath2006]

Hi there,
I am in the same situation as you all. I started completing the evisa form today. However, I am unsure about what to fill in the section 'Previous Visa/Currently valid Visa Details’. I have obviously visited India before but I can’t provide a visa number or a type of visa because I have always visited India on an Indian passport. How do I answer this question?
Thanks in advance

[Pra_dm]

Hi,
I am in same situation and with in three months grace period. Please let me know how do i use different passports in each stage. Also do i need to inform anyone before i travel. Kindly treat as urgent.

Regards,
Prasu

[takdeerwala]

If you have not recieved British Passport yet, you can avail Grace period of 3 months. If you have British Passport and still using Indian Passport, this will amount to Fine / penalties and also stopped from boarding the flight. Best advice is to get eVisa once you get British Passport or continue with the process of Surrender certificate, OCI card.

[a_a_0018]

If you have not recieved British Passport yet, you can avail Grace period of 3 months. If you have British Passport and still using Indian Passport, this will amount to Fine / penalties and also stopped from boarding the flight. Best advice is to get eVisa once you get British Passport or continue with the process of Surrender certificate, OCI card.

hi, thanks for this, just so that i read it right, does it mean that "3 months grace period becomes invalid when you get a British passport in hand."?,

Please suggest.

Thanks again

[takdeerwala]

3 month Grace Period rules are universal for all the countries, not only British Passport holders. In some countries, Indians who renounce their citizenship spend a lot of time before getting new passport of foreign country. For such people, 3 month grace period is handy.
Once you get Foreign passport, it becomes tricky in implementing this rule. You will enter India in indian passport, what about leaving the country? What stamp will you show to immigration? Having two passports, OCI, Renunciation in India becomes cumbersome.