114 Responses to “Indian’s must surrender Indian passports before obtaining visa for India”

1. deepak kumar says:

   November 19, 2009 at 11:21 pm

   what is the adress for surrendering indian passport in birmingham
2. pradip mondol says:

   November 21, 2009 at 10:29 am

   The Indian Citizenship act of 1955 states that Indian Nationality is automatically terminated upon acquiring another nationality or Passport of another country. Indian Passport has to be surrendered and cancelled and it is illegal to travel on an Indian Passport after obtaining another Nationality. THERE IS NO NEED TO ADDITIONALLY RENOUNCE INDIAN CITIZENSHIP AS THE UK INDIAN HIGH COMMISSION IS DEMANDING. THERE ARE OVERZEALOUS OFFICIALS IN THE INDIAN HIGH COMMISSION UK WHO HAVE DECIDED THAT PASSPORTS THAT WERE CANCELLED IN THE PAST AND RETURNED TO INDIVIDUALS, HAVE NOW TO BE SURRENDERED. THIS IS RETROSPECTIVE AND CANNOT BE LEGAL. THE HIGH COMMISSION IS OPENING ITSELF TO LEGAL CHALLENGE AND THIS WILL HAPPEN SOON.
3. Nitesh says:

   December 1, 2009 at 2:59 pm

   I only heard from a friend last week and i am ‘dumbfounded’ , my wife has both ,an indian/british but to have to pay £90 is a travesty. When we travel to india we always use her british passport and pay for the visa but i’ll be damned if am going to pay them £90!.
4. Sabir Ahmed says:

   December 4, 2009 at 9:27 pm

   An even bigger problem is when you no longer have your old indian passport,as i and many are experiencing.I came to the uk in 1967 age of two with my mum who has sadly passed away.I never had an indian passport,but they insist i produce proof.I am getting very frustrated as i am going for a 3 wk holiday and India should be encouraging people to travel thus capitalising the tourist industry to further build the economy.It seems to me they still enjoy frustrating the ex pats.
5. baldip says:

   December 7, 2009 at 4:21 pm

   last weak, i went to the India House to apply PIO card. I shocked to hear that i have to pay £90 to surrender my Indian passport. when i was filling my form for PIO i saw on website and check eligibility for that. I wonder there is not even single clue to show that you have to surrender your Indian passport. Second, we can’t surrender online. we have to go overthere. i am so dissapointed from all this procedures. I want to know what time i need to get there to surrender my passport?
6. Maulik says:

   December 8, 2009 at 3:51 pm

   Is there any way, we can surrender our Indian passport in India, do we still have to pay £90 for passport surrender charges ? £90 is too much for surrending the passport, for family of 4 its £360…… If any one is having idea about the same, please share your experience.
7. Mr Patel uk says:

   December 9, 2009 at 12:33 am

   Hello,

   I was born in India in 1930 and hold a british passport since 1950 , will i be affected by the the Passport Act 1967.
   Please advise as i am planning to visit India soon, and also indicate the process to get a india tourist visa

   Many Thanks
8. Tony says:

   December 12, 2009 at 12:16 pm

   I was at the HCI London yesterday, my situation. 2 kids married to a Chinese/English woman.

   I knew I could apply for OCI for myself and the kids but not wife, she can have PIO as married to an Indian.

   Well at the counter they tell me She can not get PIO until I have PIO or OCI, fair enough I say, but then they tell me she can not have PIO as her father was born in China, looks like India does not favour China.
   With the OCI application I had all documentation, but they wanted me to surrender my very very very old CANCELLED Indian passport at a cost of £90 – these guys are utter fools and rip off merchants I say – can use stronger Punjabi words but I will refrain. They tell me the rules changed in August of 2009. I don’t particularly want to hand over my old Indian passports, they have sentimental value and grandchildren in years to come will treasure them and the pictures . Also they requested a naturalisation certificate, you are screwed if you don’t have this.

   Anyway the upshot is, if you don’t have the Indian passport and have the British, go to your local Notary Public and get an affidavit from them to say that you were born in India, this will suffice but still need the naturalisation certificate.

   The system is a farce and designed to make money for HCI, I agree with Sabir – no care for ex-pats at all.

   My wife can have a 5 year visa though, great consolation.

   I am now confused do I get a notary letter or renounce the passports, the “renounce” letter may be more beneficial and prove I had Indian citizenship, but OCI would do that too !! either way the HCI will keep on screwing us for money even when we are gone from this planet.

   MAULIK :: I was told at HCI, if you have a valid Indian passport and you loose it somehow, report it to the police and get an affidavit from your notary… make of this as you wish as these are HCI comments not mine..
9. mrs kaur says:

   December 14, 2009 at 10:40 pm

   hi all

   I went to apply for a visa today and i was asked to give to give them a reciept of submission of my indian passport!! i wasnt that worried to this to this first but when i came home and read through the website , i felt sick to learn that i will be charged £90 to surrender my passport. why are they charging me £90? just to cut a corner of my passport!!! but i was more worried when i couldnt find my passport, marriage certificate and few other documents!! now what am i suppose to do? i donnt think that i have my Indian passport with me anymore. can i anyone answer to this please?

   thanks
10. Bobby says:

    December 15, 2009 at 12:22 pm

    The charge for surrendering in itself is false , there should not be any charge even if this is legal by the act(if proved). We had paid when making the passport , so why pay again for surrendering or destroying if that is what high commission wants to do. Even if this was legal then it is fault of the High commission who has returned it in first place after cancelling it (for those who got OCI). This just seems to be some money making policy without any legality in it.
11. Dr. T. Rahman says:

    December 15, 2009 at 8:43 pm

    I applied for OCI in early October this year. I was not told at all about surrendering Indian passport. Now on website I saw that my application is not getting processed anymore as I did not submit the photocopy of passport surrender certificate. Wastage of two and half months time! Now I have to apply for Indian visa for going to India.
12. Nikki says:

    December 16, 2009 at 2:33 pm

    My mother was born in India and became British Citizen after marrying my father. She surrendered her Indian passport after obtaining a British one in 1983. She was given a letter with an official stamp saying that ”passport no L.84…. has been forwarded to the office of the High Commissioner for India in London.” We are now in the process of appying for an OCI. We submited the form on October 8th 2009. Yesterday I noticed an objection on my mother’s status saying SUBMIT COPY OF SURRENDER CERTIFICATE OF INDIAN PASSPORT TO OCI DEPT. We already sent the relevant documents with the original application. We have no further proof. What are we now expected to send instead?
13. Lalji kerai says:

    December 16, 2009 at 6:22 pm

    I applied for OCI. By mean of me being a indian citizen. Application was examined on 08-10-2009. not beeing told about surrending of my indian citizenship. I understand may be, they might have recently intreduced new system which i was not aware off until i saw it online Acknowledgement that i have not surreder my indian passport. I am sorry to say that when i first got my British citizen passport in 1968 at Nairobi, Kenya. my Indian pasport was cancelled and INROUNNDED to Indian high commition in kenya. I have proof of that, I don’t know what and where can i get another passport to surrender with xtra money. I don’t know what say.
    thank you
14. Rakesh says:

    December 23, 2009 at 2:23 pm

    I am shocked at a lot of these comments. The rules are clear, and are stated in your Indian passports. The only change is that the rules are finally being enforced.

    I’ve been inconvenienced by this too, but after what happened in Mumbai, India is finally taking security seriously.

    Instead of grumbling about this, spend a few minutes thinking about why this needs to happen.
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    December 29, 2009 at 4:25 pm

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17. marix says:

    January 4, 2010 at 6:27 am

    Thank you
18. Nick says:

    January 4, 2010 at 7:57 pm

    Hi got a British passport and an Indian passport, i want to surrender my Indian passport but dont want to pay the £90, what can i do?
19. BALDEV says:

    January 8, 2010 at 12:23 pm

    the surrender charge is an utter disgrace on behalf of india, again working ways of how to obtain foriegn money into corrupt indian officials pockets… shame on india
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21. Madhu says:

    January 9, 2010 at 2:55 pm

    can I surrender my indian passport and apply for the OCI card at the same time without waiitng for the surrender certificate to reach me.,because in the application for an OCI it doesnt mention about sending the surrender certificate to them anywhere…all they want is indian passport copies, british passport copy,naturalisation certificates copy and photos.will the photos taken in the PHotome booths sufficient??
22. Munna Bhai says:

    January 11, 2010 at 10:00 pm

    Hello fellow comrades, yes i did not know this untill i heard my cousin talk about it, £90……. is i think well true indians making money. As for the rule goes i think someone should take this up with a local MP or councillor, with all the cost involved in getting a new British pasport is alot and then you are actually paying them to take the passport away from you. I don’t think they will be framing all the returned passports now surely so what justification is here for thr £90 fee.

    Come on someone needs to tackle this, am sure there are many of our colleagues educated to take this on and challenge. Surely the last thing you don’t want is getting stuck in all this when you need to go off in a hurry i.e funeral or parent seriously ill in India. If anyone knows how to challenge this or want to start a group please do so, am sure you will have many supporters.
23. Sandeep says:

    January 13, 2010 at 7:58 pm

    Hi

    Is anyone know whats the procedure to surrender indian passport in high commission in India London? Can i post it to them and in which favour i need to make the postal order?

    thanks
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    January 15, 2010 at 10:09 am

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25. robert says:

    January 16, 2010 at 12:24 pm

    i’m in manchester.i have to take visa as i have got my british passport.now they are insisting for a surrender certificate.i agreed, send everything to london.they returned it back mentioning that i have to send it to BIRMINGHMAM as i come in that area.Then i sent those to birmingham.No use, still waiting.BIRMINGHAM CONSULATE REALLY SUCKS.No one answer your phone,fax won’t go and there won’t be any response from them.I’ve heard from a lot of people about birmingham consulate’s in efficiency.I’m planning to collect a signed petition from more than 200 of them whom i know about this problen and submitting to U.K government or who ever concerns.The BIRMINGHAM CONSULATE SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN.
26. robert says:

    January 16, 2010 at 12:27 pm

    can anyone say the surrender period after getting british passport i.e – with in how many months.
    The info in web-site in not enough, advice them to be specific rather than saying ‘immediate’.So one might have to travel that week or month.
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28. S Ali says:

    January 19, 2010 at 7:26 pm

    I got my passport CANCLLED in May 2009 with the words “Acquired British Nationality” clearly stamped on it.

    I did not pay 90 pounds and still have my passport.

    Do I still need to do this cancellation again ??? WTF !!
29. biju says:

    January 20, 2010 at 4:46 pm

    It send my passport with application to surrender my passpoet One month before to CGI Birmingham . I have not got the surrender certificate yet and there is no response from the Indian consulate. I tried to contact them through phone and by mail , noone answers the phone and the mail comes back with failure notice . Does anybody knows any other telephone number to contact them.
30. biju says:

    January 20, 2010 at 4:47 pm

    I send my passport with application to surrender my passport One month before to CGI Birmingham . I have not got the surrender certificate yet and there is no response from the Indian consulate. I tried to contact them through phone and by mail , noone answers the phone and the mail comes back with failure notice . Does anybody knows any other telephone number to contact them.
31. Mr Patel says:

    January 21, 2010 at 12:08 am

    I have my british passport in July 2007. I don’t have my indian passport. what shall i have to do regarding surrendering passport.
32. Jay says:

    January 21, 2010 at 10:54 am

    I think the £90 charge is an absolute disgrace. It is proof that, despite all that we hear about the progress that India is making, the corrupt civil servants are still holding the country back. I will write to the Prime Minister about this.
33. Ajay says:

    January 22, 2010 at 6:17 pm

    Hi all

    CGI Birmingham IS A NIGHTMARE. I have had ALL of the trouble mentioned in the above posts. Just when I feel I could say goodbye to CGI Birmingham for a long time to come I realise that I still have some more sadism to enjoy.

    I sent my family’s passport with a self addressed Special Delivery stamped envelope to the Consulate to stamp the OCI and return it to me more than 2 weeks ago.

    No reply yet. Also, no one answers the phone at the phone numbers mentioned at THEIR website at the times mentioned by THEM. I sent an email to a chappy with a YAHOO id!! and placed a bet that it might just bounce back. …and guess what. IT DID.
    Now I have forwarded the same email to another guy with an fsmail.net email id….lets see what happens. I am amazed that Indian diplomats still use unsecure webservers for their email!!!!!!! Everytime I have anything to do with CGI Birmingham I suddenly realise why I wouldn’t want to return to my place of birth.

    I have just tweeted to Shashi Tharoor regarding CGI Birmingham. Should we all tweet about CGI Birmingham and start a campaign? If we don’t complain the old babus at the place will continue to work in the same as they did 40 years ago. Maybe even park a bailgaadi outside the consulate. They obviously haven’t heard of telephones and such like.

    Can somebody please explain how to contact this ancient office without having to take my bum to Birmingham!!???!!!

    Enough of my ranting.
34. V S L. says:

    January 22, 2010 at 9:05 pm

    If the Indian Passport had an expiry date January 1979 since then you have accuired British Passport through Naturalsation Certificate. Why are they charging £90 today when issued passport has expired 31 years ago?
35. H Singh says:

    January 23, 2010 at 9:12 pm

    Hi,

    I need to surrender my Indian passport. Do I need to fill in any form? I have been through Indian High Commission website but cannot find any forms.

    Any help will be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks
36. A patel says:

    January 24, 2010 at 8:18 pm

    shame on indian goverment…………
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38. Waiting Guy says:

    January 26, 2010 at 10:45 am

    It is really shame on Indian Government! Yes, for security reasons then can ask to apply for surrender certificate. But, why £90. To apply a new passport they charge £30, sadly to cancel it they charge £90. What non-sense!

    I got an emergency and need to travel to India. Hence, I compromised and applied for surrender certificate by submitting all mine and my family passports. Unfortunately, there is no tracking mechanism whether your application has been accepted or processed or in process. No one is picking up the phone, no email replies and last but not the least the fax is not working. I am chasing them from the past 3 weeks. No luck!

    What could be the reason….why they are behaving like this? Don’t they have enough staff to pick up phones. Then why don’t they set up a premium number service so that people will contact them. This helps them to generate revenue and will solve our problems by tracking our application. Why don’t they contact any company and request them to develop an online tracking application. Don’t disclose any person detail. Just display reference number and status. If they ask me I can develop for “free of charge”, much easy than facing the nightmare.

    I am still waiting for my surrender certificate……………………………oh god!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
39. Pam says:

    January 26, 2010 at 2:41 pm

    Very dissapointed with the Indian High commisson. As if we dont have enough paperwork to fill out. People dont answer phone calls, get redirected to a deadline.

    I was so angry yesterday as I went to apply for a visa to india for my mother who now holds a British passport, only to find

    out, that the High commission will not allow my mother to travel to india on her British passport unless she surrenders her Indian passport.

    You have to take so much more paperwork:
    Copy of your British passport.
    Copy of the indian passport.
    Copy of the Naturalisation cetficate too.
    I couldnt find a form on the internet, but it wouldnt suprise me…. (Forget trying to keep things simple)

    Not to forget it will cost £90. for a certificate. I was told yesterday, I can collect the certificate in 2-3 working days or 7-10 days by post. ( obviously not today 26th Jan its closed its Republic day!)

    Then take the certificate to the visa office, hopefully you will finally get your visa to India.

    Cant believe all the headache, im hoping it will be ready intime as we are travelling early Feb.
40. Naushad Malik says:

    January 26, 2010 at 4:49 pm

    We are playing with technology now a days and we still lack the information mentioned on the HCI web site.

    This is a very poor design of the web site and the content on it does not expose information. Please the one who is dealing with this make sure that this is provided ASAP.

    No matter every one has different issues associated with their applications please try to resolve them rather then making life hell and people talking ill about their own mother land.

    Autorities out there please dont let us feel bad about our India.

    To all the guys out there it is not the Land that we should blame India (Golden Bird) remember this. This is people out there in HCI to change there views and try to resolve issues as they are rather then raising more out of them.

    People out there sitting in HCI. You are here to help the fellow indians and you all are apointed to do so and not to create mess out of issues.

    Thanks
    Naushad Malik
41. V S L. says:

    January 26, 2010 at 7:50 pm

    Hi,
    You can download surrender forms at the – http://www.hcilondon.in/applicationform.pdf
42. wifey wanting to go on hols with family says:

    January 27, 2010 at 12:45 pm

    Applied for 6mths visa to india for myself and family, within 2 days the kids and I received ours, but husbands was put on pending. Reason was he had to surrender his old indian passport. He went along surrendered the passport paid the £90 fee, for cancelling and received his surrender certificate three days later. We have had to re-submit his application on the 18/1/10, thought that it would take just 2/3 days again to get the visa, but they have said application still processing. I can’t understand what it is that they are processing?? Anyone out there who have experienced this, can you give me timescales?? Tried calling the embassy they don’t give any info, keep advising me to speak to the VFS,I contact the VFS they say embassy are not giving info out!!! Need this so desparetely as holiday is on the 12th feb.
43. aimtyv says:

    January 28, 2010 at 11:35 pm

    Well I think people need to think beyond £90.
    Fact is many of us have paid thousands in UK for visas, PR, citizenship, passport etc… have we ever complained home office of these ever increasing visa charges. e.g. HSMP now costs £850, PR is around £900, citizenship around £1000?
    But we are complaining about paying £90 for cancelling indian citizenship.
    It seems 99% of us don’t know if you wanna surrender british passport(for any reason) there is fee of £395.
    By law one has to surrender indian passport if he/she obtain other country’s citizenship…that’s the bottom line. Why people haven’t done that…i am sure one might have thought..CHALTA HAI or who cares…and unfortunately that’s the one of the root cause in indian system.
    It is good that embassy has made it clear to obtain cancellation certificate if you wanna get OCI in my opinion.

    To make you feel better (who might have got offended ) I agree on one point : it is quite a waste of time. Service could have been better.
    1) go personally to surrender passport
    2) then again to collect certificate
    3) then for OCI

    By the way I also have to surrender my passport

    I think dual citizenship is the way to go….
44. Navin says:

    January 29, 2010 at 2:10 pm

    Hi,

    THIS IS SHEER DAYLIGHT ROBBERY BY THE INDIAN GOVT.

    INDIA IS NOT COUNTRY THAT IS COMING UP IN THE WORLD.

    THEY ARE RIPPING OF INDIAN CITIZENS WITH SUCH EXCESSIVE CHARGES

    IS’NT THERE ANYONE IN THE HIGH COMMISSION WHO CAN ANSWER ALL THE ABOVE CHARGES
45. Christian Skene says:

    January 29, 2010 at 10:58 pm

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46. Mina says:

    January 30, 2010 at 8:33 pm

    Hello, This is another reason why British Born people do not want to go to India another example of why India will not change it’s way of thinking. If this rule was passed many years ago then why was this not clear to all people that applied for non Indian passports. Would it not be more clear if people that held indian passports when applying for example a british passport are told to surrender there Indian passport before applying for the british ( or they would not be entitled to a hold a british passport) do these people not think to work together to help the general public. Why is there a cost of £90 ? What process justifies this high charge?
    Also why is this not in the national papers so people are made aware or in the media other than word of mouth ?
    People that went to India on there indian passport not knowing it was a crime(ie will be charged for this mistake) whilst holding another passport should be giVen a warning not fined as they haVe not done this with wrong intent. Once the genral public has been informed through the media and a set dead line date is set for people to STOP and surrender there passports anyone who still traVels on a Indian passport knowningly can be fined. This does not seem to be informatiVe through and people are upset and feel insulted by the way the Indian officals treat them and the lack of communication being proVided before this saga. I am not a Indian passport holder THANK GOD but I happen to speak with many people that are old and scared they will be fined or just confused why 50 60 70 years later they are being asked to surrender a passport they do not hold, I KNOW they should get statements etc which will cost a further £40 more money and costs that people should not haVe to pay. The GOI should look at a simple process to get this issue cleared and a cost should not be applied for surrendering indian passports what cost does the GOI pay to cut two corners of a passport ? If there is a admin cost it should be within reason not £90….crazy crazy. We Indians make a DRAMA out of our own people. THIS IS TIME FOR ACTION FROM THE GOI SO NRI’S CAN GET SOME FAITH BACK IN THERE OWN COUNTRY.
47. N Athwal says:

    January 30, 2010 at 8:46 pm

    Hello, Should the GOI not be making life easier for people rather than more hard. I think this is another plan to not only generate more money but also confuse people…Do we not go through enough truma when applying,collecting a passport office in London. I went to collect my passport to be told some further information is required I took this to be told the informationon my marriage cert is wrong..the original…~Hhaaaaaa so my wife is not my wife, finally hope your seated… when collecting my passport I was first in and last out..Hmmm wonder why.. the lady collecting the slips only placed all the first people on the bottom of the pile…why not make life a tiny bit easy and impliment a ticket system…MAGIC problem sorted. The people working in the London office are rude, not only do they not understand the process they talk down to people. It is shameful to be a indian passort holder nowonder people do anything to get out of India.
48. Mrs Kaur says:

    February 1, 2010 at 12:00 pm

    The indian high commision is inefficinent and now they want to be paid forit to!!! When my husband came to the UK after marriage his indiasn passport expired the following year so he applied for another I sent aspecial delivery envelope with it and they did not bother to use it and it ended up at a neighbours house. Later he got british citizenship, I tried to contact the high comm. to surrender the old pass. but could not find any info. could not get through on the phone!! I was just waiting for something like this How typicaly Indian is this shit? So now I guess I`d better get this sorted, +£90
49. Aman says:

    February 1, 2010 at 3:07 pm

    Hi,

    I need to surrender my indian passport to CGI Birmingham. Can i do this by post? How will i send my fees and to whom? I am also confused about form because on the form its say london high commission not birmingham. Is that ok?
50. Raj says:

    February 1, 2010 at 4:21 pm

    Hey I have had the same problem when I applied for my mun & dad’s OCI. The HCI were demamding to surrender there old Indian passports. The question here is where do they obtain the old passports from when they submitted the old Indian passports to the British High commission when they become British Citizens. They recieved the certificate of surrending thier old Indian Passports back in the early 90’s, which was not enough for them. All the evidence was thier, but they insisted that they obtain a affadivit, which again was a waste of money. non the less it was cheap to obtain an Affadvit then surrender the old passport.

    LIke in the coments above the HCI are just after money and I thought Inida had changed. Apparently not. They are thiefs, grabs much as they can from their own people and yet they are still not satisfied. In time India will become a corupted country. What the Indian Govt needs is kick up its bum… the best way to deal with this is to make all the public coments public… Ie getting the local radio station’s involved, getting all the main headlines on the front pages of the paper.

    Then in reality we complain, but at the end of the day we just do what they tell us to do and get along with it. No one is taking any legal steps against the Indian commision or protesting…