New Rule : $175 fee when you surrender Indian Passport

[Seattle_pn]

This random rule is extremely frustrating. When we applied for OCI no such rules were in effect. No mention of canceling Indian Passport on Application except for Indian Passport Information. I sincerely hope Indian Government reconsiders service fees & penalties for this utter unjustified rule.

I agree and what is more frustrating is the lack of clarity. When US Citizenship fees went up they announced months in advance so that people could plan accordingly. In this case, I check the consulate site to check the status of my application and read the announcement. It came out of nowhere.

I called the consulate - left a voicemail and I sent multiple emails but have gotten no responses so far.

[balaji_b]

Todays Experience in New york consulate

Finally I travelled personally to NY Consulate since they have not returned kids passport even though they have received the OCI documents in May 5th.

The officer in the Counter told me they have deliberately halted sending any passport. They wanted the renunciation certificate of me and my wife to issue the OCI for my kids....This was a ridiculos request since nothing was communicated to us.

The funny thing was they were telling everyone that they respond to phones and E-mails...Fine Joke .. I personally have called 50 times and no response...

I talked to many people in the room and OCI process was having most of irritated application processing. I was surprised when someone pointed the renunciation application forms have changed 3 times this week alone in their website...

PS:If you are caught in the middle of OCI processing, I would recommend personal visit carrying all potential documents, which btw would take 2 days to avoid any frustration ...

[immihelp]

You are right. The renunciation form is changing every day.

We just downloaded it yesterday, made it fillable and posted on this web site. I see that it is completely different today.

[immihelp]

professorm,

That is not true. The only time it is free is when you already had your passport cancelled before this rule became effective.

[adam2009]

professorm,

That is not true. The only time it is free is when you already had your passport cancelled before this rule became effective.

Immihelp,
I am in this situation where I already have my passport cancelled & renouncing Indian citizenship in Jan 2010 when I applied for the Indian Visa for the first time.

I understand that I dont have to send the $175... Are you suggesting that I send in only the passport to get the Surrender certificate... Should I fill the renounciation form again...? or since i live in New York.. should I just visit the consulate as I feel there is lot of confusion in the NY consulate and I fear that my indian passport will be lost in the confusion NYCG.

Thanks

[Shah2010]

In the same boat hear

I agree and what is more frustrating is the lack of clarity. When US Citizenship fees went up they announced months in advance so that people could plan accordingly. In this case, I check the consulate site to check the status of my application and read the announcement. It came out of nowhere.

I called the consulate - left a voicemail and I sent multiple emails but have gotten no responses so far.

I called the New York consulate yesterday and talked to an agent (Please wipe that 'oooh yeah' look on your face ..I really did ...But I have been trying to get them on phone for the last 2 weeks..So don't get your hopes up yet.. )

I am exactly in the same boat as you . They asked me to send the application for the surrender certificate to the OCI cell (not to the Consular Section as the web site for the surrender certificate tells you) giving all the details (in a covering letter)regarding the date of your OCI application , your passport details (and offcourse the documents,money order requested by them for the Surrender Certificate) and ask them to forward the application to the section dealing with Surrender Certificates after adding the passports (which the OCI cell has) to the application for Surrender Certificate .. I send it yesterday ..Lets see what happens

Thx
Shah

[adam2009]

I called the New York consulate yesterday and talked to an agent (Please wipe that 'oooh yeah' look on your face ..I really did ...But I have been trying to get them on phone for the last 2 weeks..So don't get your hopes up yet.. )

I am exactly in the same boat as you . They asked me to send the application for the surrender certificate to the OCI cell (not to the Consular Section as the web site for the surrender certificate tells you) giving all the details (in a covering letter)regarding the date of your OCI application , your passport details (and offcourse the documents,money order requested by them for the Surrender Certificate) and ask them to forward the application to the section dealing with Surrender Certificates after adding the passports (which the OCI cell has) to the application for Surrender Certificate .. I send it yesterday ..Lets see what happens

Thx
Shah

Shah--- Was your Passport already cancelled previously by the consulate ?

[frustrated_in_nj]

I have a similar story.

We are planning to travel out of country in 2 weeks. Time was too short for us to apply for OCI, so we applied for PIO instead, which was received by CGNY on April 30th before noon.

Despite daily sending them web messages and leaving phone messages, there was absolutely no communication from them guiding me towards change in rules.

All these days, I have been glued to the phone, hitting the redial button, but could never speak with any one live. Today I dialed the number to the Ambassador to complaint. The secretary picked up the phone on the first try. Initially, I was glad to be able to speak with some one on the phone. However, she turned out to be very rude and of no help at all. She just repeatedly asked me to look at the web site and do the needful. She first tried to get rid of me by putting me on hold for 10 minutes and then later just hung up on me.

They have put the processing of all the OCI and PIO cards on hold and have created a big chaos that they are not able to handle. If they would have processed our application in 4 business days, as they had advertised, then it would have completed before this rule was enacted, but they are not interested in hearing that. They insist that this is the process now, and all the applications that were made under the old rules have to follow the changed rules. They are not forthcoming about informing the applicants about the change in rules either. Even when the applicants are calling and emailing, they do not respond.

In our particular case, Only I need to surrender my Indian passport. My husband is Indian born, but had renounced Indian citizenship 18 years ago. My 2 American born kids could apply for PIO on the basis of their father and their grand parent ties. So, I requested to return their passport and PIO cards, so at least they are in clear. She denied that.

As I have already submitted my Indian passport with my PIO application, she asked me to attach the copy of the same with the form XXII and fee and write a cover letter to explain.

They are not willing to answer how long more it will take for the PIO to process after surrender certificate is obtained and re-submitted to them to continue PIO processing. As they are so backed up, at this point it is any ones guess.

As they have been holding our application for 3 weeks already, I requested an expedite on the surrender certificate. This request was denied as there is no death or serious illness in the family.

Even if I am willing to forfeit the application fee for the PIO and revoke my application to get my passport back, I don't even think I can get an entry permit without the surrender certificate, which in itself is supposed to take 2 weeks. So, our travel plans are in complete jeopardy as of now.

We are planning to visit them in person tomorrow, and hope and pray that something works out. I don't mind paying the required fees and following the rules, but it really hurts when our own people treat us like crap.

If anyone has any suggestions, please offer them freely.

Thanks,
SA

[Shah2010]

Shah--- Was your Passport already cancelled previously by the consulate ?

Yes it was ..I did that before sending them to the consulate for OCI application ..Now they send this new requirement for Surrender certificate

[gc478]

shah2010 - Is your OCI application already granted and documents have reached the Indian Consulate?

[adam2009]

Yes it was ..I did that before sending them to the consulate for OCI application ..Now they send this new requirement for Surrender certificate

Shah,
You indicated that you sent the cancelled indian passport.... Do you think a notrised copy of the cancelled passport will suffice along with the cover leter to get the surrender certificate...

I am in the same boat as you... applied OCI on May 2nd... no update yet...

[Shah2010]

Nope not yet

shah2010 - Is your OCI application already granted and documents have reached the Indian Consulate?

Absolutely no indication related to that ..It still shows Application has not been acknowledged yet ..But I recieved an e-mail (which contained this new requirement related to surrender certificate) that said that 'all OCI applications, which were received in the Consulate till April 30, 2010 and found to be complete, have been processed'.. So I am assuming that my application has been processed ....

[Shah2010]

Sending the passports

Shah,
You indicated that you sent the cancelled indian passport.... Do you think a notrised copy of the cancelled passport will suffice along with the cover leter to get the surrender certificate...

I am in the same boat as you... applied OCI on May 2nd... no update yet...

I would send the Indian passports if you have then in your possession ..Please take atleast 3, 4 copies , notorize them & then send the original to the Indian Consulate ..The website says you have to send the Inidan passport ..If you do not have then you have to send the affidavit related to it

[frustrated_in_nj]

Our in-person experience at CGNY

To recap my previous post, our PIO application was received by the consulate 3 weeks ago under old rule and there was no communication from them of any kind.

Based on the information on this forum, we went in their to apply for surrender certificate in person to move along the pending PIO.

We reached at the consulate around 10:15. The pre-security check in line was very long on the street. It took us about 30 minutes to get to bag-check.

My husband stood in the inquiry line (big desk at the back of the room) and I stood in the surrender certificate line, which was moving *extremely* slowly.

The inquiry lady took the details of our case and came back and told us that they have sent our package back. As my Indian passport was in that package, I could not even apply for the surrender certificate. We asked her to kindly double check but we got the same response.

We still decided to keep standing in the surrender certificate line. After one and a half hour we reached the window, explained our case and requested them to triple check that our PIO application package is not in their possession. Good thing that we did, because the counter clerk came back with our entire package, along with my Indian passport. The inquiry lady did not have correct information. I found 2 other people who were given wrong information and asked to go home. We found that all the consulate people we dealt with were doing their best to resolve the particular cases of applicants, but the volume was *so* high, that it was crossing their human capacity to do that.

We were called in the visa interview room to discuss our case. We discovered that my husband, who had acquired non Indian passport 18 years ago and whose last Indian passport expired 15 years ago, also needed to pay $175 and apply for the surrender certificate. We filled out his form in a rush, got the required photocopies and cash to submit his application. Along with the details of Indian passport and the foreign passport, they are very particular about the copy of the naturalization certificate for issuing surrender certificate.

They have promised us to complete processing of our surrender certificate and PIO cards in 2 weeks. We are cautiously hopeful.

Hope it helps,
SA
PS: We heard that they are opening the consulate on the Saturday and Sunday next week to handle the volume. Also, it was announced that the applicants whose OCI status was shown approved before 5th of May, still needed to apply for the surrender certificate, but they did not need to pay $175 for it.

[immihelp]

Did you have to fill the renunciation form in duplicate or just once?