Applying for british Passport 3 months after naturalisation

[nchodem]

Hi;
I have got my naturalisation certificate in sep 2012. And I have traveled to india on indian passport immediately a week after citizenship ceremony.

Now I have decided to stay back in india for good. And found a job in india. Just wondering if there is problem if I apply for British passport from india now.

I have read lot of posts in this forum. And the popular opinion is that there is a grace period of 3 months within which I can use my indian passport for travel. After the three months my stay in india deemed as illegal.

So my humble request to the immigrations experts in this forum:
1. Is it legal to apply for British Passport from India after 3 months of naturalisation.

2. If experts in this forum are not sure which is the best place to get the advice.

3. Can I travel to UK now, and apply for british passport, get OCI and then return back to india.


Appreciate your replies and time.

Regards
Nagi

[Jambo]

For the UK related questions, as a British citizen you can apply for UK passport whenever and wherever you are present. They don't care although the passport process can be longer if applying from abroad (several weeks more).

How to deal with the Indian authorities is better to be asked in other countries section of the forum.

[ban.s]

In my opinion, #3 is the best option for you. You need to pay a fine (£145) because you have used the Indian passport for travel beyond the allowed 3 months period but otherwise the whole process would be simple and straight forward.

You can do the same from India as well. Apply for British passport, renounce your citizenship and apply for OCI. British passport application process will be longer and indian passport surrender and OCI process will be more bureaucratic. You still need to pay the fine in India (in Rs).

[asim72]

Option # 3 is not the best option, it is THE only option you have.

You can obtain a British passport in India, but as already mentioned, it will take much longer. But then you cannot apply for OCI in India, because one condition of applying OCI in India that you must have a valid visa whilst in India. Now there is no procedure of surrendering your citizenship in India and at the same time getting a visa on your British passport.

Although they give a grace period, but basically right now you are an illegal immigrant in India. You lost your Indian citizenship as soon as you got naturalised in UK, and you have no visa to stay in India.

So, either choose option #3, or if you do not want to hang around in UK for a few months then there is another way.

Go to UK, get a British passport, surrender Indian passport, apply for Indian visa, travel back to India and then apply for OCI.