Question regarding applying for OCI while being in India.
I am expecting the citizenship oath invite any time soon. My plan is to take the oath in Canada and travel to India immediately after the oath, since I am employed in India. I will be using Indian passport for this travel. I understand this is legally allowed, since at the time of the travel I am not a Canadian passport holder yet.
My cousin will forward the citizenship certificate from Canadian address to my Indian address. Once it reaches India, I am planning to apply for Canadian passport at the Canadian consulate in India and thereafter surrender Indian passport and apply for OCI status, while being in India.
Has any one recently applied for Canadian passport and OCI while being in India? Could you share any issues faced during the process?
Too much hassle. Avoid it. You'll have to apply for Canadian passport in India (easy). Then apply for Indian passport cancellation (can be done but could be hassle), get a tourist visa (I think can be done but again hassle). I don't know if you can apply for work visa. I know for sure that one cannot apply for OCI on tourist visa.
I'll share my (actually my wife's) timeline below:
- Oath: Jan 18
- Citizenship certificate received: Jan 26
- Applied for Canadian passport: Jan 28
- Canadian passport receipt: Feb 1
- Application for visa+surrender+OCI: Feb 1
- Received visa: Feb 6
- Received surrender: Feb 17
- Received OCI: Mar 3
We travelled to India on visa on Feb 23. My friend will carry the OCI to India. I plan to call FRRO and ask them to change the status from 'visa' to 'OCI'. Let's see if it can be cone, will apprise all!