Apply for Indian Tourist e-Visa during Surrender of Passport

[Ducky11]

Hi All,

I’ve recently been granted British Citizenship & I will surrender my Indian passport as soon as I receive my British passport (it’s in the post). However, I am told that the process of surrendering your Indian passport can take up to 10 days & I need to travel to India very soon. Do you think that there will be a problem if I were to apply for the online Indian tourist e-Visa (as a British citizen) while my Indian passport surrender is being processed? Or do I need to wait for the surrender to be complete?

Apologies if this is the wrong forum to post this question. Please feel free to move it if that is the case.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Cheers,
Ducky

[secret.simon]

I thought that if you apply in person at a VFS centre, it takes about three to five working days.

[Ducky11]

Is that a fact? Could you or anyone else confirm? I will be going to the Paddington office in person.

Thanks

[rmukherjee]

Is that a fact? Could you or anyone else confirm? I will be going to the Paddington office in person.

Thanks

I applied for a tourist visa for my child in person, it took about a week (5 working days) and they couriered the passport stamped with a visa to us. The e-Visa scheme wasn't running at the time, hence had to apply in person. It's not a bad process but is more expensive than the e-Visa (£90+ in those days whereas e-Visa is £50?)

I would always surrender my Indian passport before asking for an e-Visa, even if the system doesn't explicitly require it, mainly because:

1) When you come in at an Indian airport, if the immigration officer checks your name and finds that you still have an active Indian passport, they may not let you in. Remember they have your name, photo, birth place etc in front of them -- it's very easy for them to look you up.

2) Govt of India policy is that anyone who acquires another nationality (which you have, because you have a foreign passport with you) must hand in their Indian passports right away. By not doing so you are committing a crime under Indian law. I would NOT want to be in this position while flying into India.

[Ducky11]

Thanks for the replies. I have surrendered my Indian passport today. Hopefully it will take 3-5 days only after which I will immediately apply for the tourist e-visa.