OCI process

[dev514]

I got my Canadian Passport with First Name: XXX(first name is mandatory so they put 3 x's) Last Name: ABC DEF( my whole name)
All my Canadian ID's have only Last Name: ABC DEF First Name: Empty
Indian Passport First Name: ABC DEF Last Name: Empty
Question : .
1. While applying for OCI(I already got Indian Citizenship renunciation certificate without a Canadian passport) or Indian Visa any issues ?
2. Traveling with Canadian Passport any suggestions? like buy airline ticket same as passport name ?

I don't want to do legal name change, lengthy process and expensive too!

Hello VisaForca,
I had same issue with my name as yours. I legally corrected my name with Ontario and then with citizenship canada. The process is pretty straight forward. The reason I have to correct my name i.e to have First name and last name in correct place is the issue that you will face while travelling. I travel a lot for my work to Europe and within North America. Some airline staff are very picky specially in states. If you are willing to go through extensive interviews every time you travel then keep your name as is. I was fed up with all that so I decided to correct my name. I also find that its not just travelling that was getting effected, if you are not careful it can effect your banking, taxes and I also found hard to use health services specially in hospitals. I find the process was straight forward. I will be happy to help you out if you decided to correct your name. And the process cost way less than what any of Indian government charges to their NRIs lol....
FYI: My suggestion is that you should correct your name.

Have fun !!!

 

[dev514]

I have made my application in 2nd April. Still havent received my OCI. What to do?

You should call them, and also you should be able to check your OCI status online through bls site.

 

[dev514]

Hey Guys,
I submitted my OCI application at BLS brampton today and they didn't take any of my original documents to be verified by consulate? Does any one else had the same situation where they return you the original documents right on spot?

 

[VijayAggarwal]

Hi All,

I am going to Apply for OCI and Indian citizenship renunciation.

I went through so many pages on this thread but couldn't get solid answer.

What I understand is that I can apply for these things together. But, Do you require Canadian passport to apply for these? or citizenship certificate after oath (along with COPR and filled online application) will be sufficient.
I am going to be finishing my oath ceremony next month and want to apply for these as soon as possible (i am travelling to India in Nov)

 

[dev514]

Hi All,

I am going to Apply for OCI and Indian citizenship renunciation.

I went through so many pages on this thread but couldn't get solid answer.

What I understand is that I can apply for these things together. But, Do you require Canadian passport to apply for these? or citizenship certificate after oath (along with COPR and filled online application) will be sufficient.
I am going to be finishing my oath ceremony next month and want to apply for these as soon as possible (i am travelling to India in Nov)

Vijay,
You need Canadian Citizenship certificate to get Canadian passport and only then you can give up your Indian Citizenship. I think you can use Indian passport up to 3 months after attaining Canadian Citizenship (Check Indian Consulate web page to verify). But simple answer to you question is yes you need both certificate as well as canadian passport for OCI. And you can give up Indian passport and apply for OCI same time.

 

[mehtapr]

Hi All,

I have an OCI since few years, but now I need to apply for spouse (Indian citz) , and soon for a newborn (due in 2 mnths, will be CDN citz) . For spouse I should be able to apply mid sept (awaiting oath) and for baby I guess late Nov. So its about a 2.5 month time difference between the two applications. We plan to travel to India in March, so, enough time to get OCI for both .

Any advantage/disadvantage in terms of eligibility (for baby), costs etc if I wait and apply together for both late Nov ?

Is there a deadline for renunciation of Indian Citz after getting canadian citz ?

The only benefit I see in waiting is having to make less runs to BLS and time saving on application work.

Also, as I am NOT an applicant, will BLS still allow me to submit paperwork on behalf of spouse ?

 

[dev514]

Hi All,

I have an OCI since few years, but now I need to apply for spouse (Indian citz) , and soon for a newborn (due in 2 mnths, will be CDN citz) . For spouse I should be able to apply mid sept (awaiting oath) and for baby I guess late Nov. So its about a 2.5 month time difference between the two applications. We plan to travel to India in March, so, enough time to get OCI for both .

Any advantage/disadvantage in terms of eligibility (for baby), costs etc if I wait and apply together for both late Nov ?

Is there a deadline for renunciation of Indian Citz after getting canadian citz ?

The only benefit I see in waiting is having to make less runs to BLS and time saving on application work.

Also, as I am NOT an applicant, will BLS still allow me to submit paperwork on behalf of spouse ?

Hi,
You have 3 months time in which you can renounce Indian citizenship/passport. Your wife can give up India passport and apply for OCI at the same time. Regarding upcoming baby, you need to have Canadian birth certificate and then you have to get the certificate notary and authenticate by provincial document registry, then take this document to Indian consulate for a stamp and then you have to submit the stamped document with BLS. It is a bit of useless process by Indian consulate.

Person of interest has to be present at BLS as well as at Indian Consulate for any process. I was sent back.

 

[mehtapr]

Hi,
You have 3 months time in which you can renounce Indian citizenship/passport. Your wife can give up India passport and apply for OCI at the same time. Regarding upcoming baby, you need to have Canadian birth certificate and then you have to get the certificate notary and authenticate by provincial document registry, then take this document to Indian consulate for a stamp and then you have to submit the stamped document with BLS. It is a bit of useless process by Indian consulate.

Person of interest has to be present at BLS as well as at Indian Consulate for any process. I was sent back.

Thanks for info Dev. I did read on several posts that folks submitted applications for themselves and family at BLS (not physically present), but in my case I am not even an applicant. But yes BLS do what they feel like, and allow some and deny some it seems. I just spoke to their call center and said its fine with authorization letter, but the guy didn't sound so sure.

 

[gaur2209]

Hello folks,
I need to ask a question on my infant's OCI application.
I submitted it on July 15th.
For the last 3 weeks, status is same - 'Original documents are Ready for Collection
They don't keep any original documents for an infant born as Canadian.
I spoke to them and without asking for the application number they said 'no need to come'
My question is - Is mandatory to pay a visit and then the application will move forward or I can ignore the above message as I don't have any original doc to collect? or,
Should I go in person and check with them once if this is preventing the application to move forward?
I have a flight booked for mid-September, based on their response that it'll take up to 2 months.
Thanks for your time!
Regards

 

[dev514]

Hello folks,
I need to ask a question on my infant's OCI application.
I submitted it on July 15th.
For the last 3 weeks, status is same - 'Original documents are Ready for Collection
They don't keep any original documents for an infant born as Canadian.
I spoke to them and without asking for the application number they said 'no need to come'
My question is - Is mandatory to pay a visit and then the application will move forward or I can ignore the above message as I don't have any original doc to collect? or,
Should I go in person and check with them once if this is preventing the application to move forward?
I have a flight booked for mid-September, based on their response that it'll take up to 2 months.
Thanks for your time!
Regards

Hi Gaur,
I submitted my OCI application at bls brampton (walkin) and they returned all of my original right away. I think they can see your status based on your phone number. I have dealt with bls a lot and it happened to me where they didn't ask for application number but gave me the information about my application, I was told its because of my cell number on file was same that I was calling from. It does sound strange that the application status hasn't changed from "Original Available for pickup" to "Processing at Consulate". You can also try to check status of your application at consulate website. If your application is in process, then you will see a status and if they haven't started yet then you won't see anything on consulate website. You can inquire about your application by sending an email to consulate general of India. They are pretty good at replying back in couple of days (I'm not sure if this will help, but worth a try).

 

[dev514]

Hi Gaur,
I submitted my OCI application at bls brampton (walkin) and they returned all of my original right away. I think they can see your status based on your phone number. I have dealt with bls a lot and it happened to me where they didn't ask for application number but gave me the information about my application, I was told its because of my cell number on file was same that I was calling from. It does sound strange that the application status hasn't changed from "Original Available for pickup" to "Processing at Consulate". You can also try to check status of your application at consulate website. If your application is in process, then you will see a status and if they haven't started yet then you won't see anything on consulate website. You can inquire about your application by sending an email to consulate general of India. They are pretty good at replying back in couple of days (I'm not sure if this will help, but worth a try).

Here are instructions for checking status on Consulate website:
Webpage: https://www.cgitoronto.gov.in/eoi.php?id=oci_application
Click on: Track status of your application: https://ociservices.gov.in/statusEnquiry
Enter Passport number
Enter Acknowledgment Number: This number is different than that you use to check status on BLS website.
In my case, to check status on BLS website it starts as OCIT ********
To check on consulate website it CANT********
In both cases it should be 12 letters in total.

 

[gaur2209]

Here are instructions for checking status on Consulate website:
Webpage: https://www.cgitoronto.gov.in/eoi.php?id=oci_application
Click on: Track status of your application: https://ociservices.gov.in/statusEnquiry
Enter Passport number
Enter Acknowledgment Number: This number is different than that you use to check status on BLS website.
In my case, to check status on BLS website it starts as OCIT ********
To check on consulate website it CANT********
In both cases it should be 12 letters in total.

Many thanks, Dev!, I realized later that I don't have 'CANT********' acknowledgment number and I'll visit BLS office tomorrow to collect it. Thanks for your inputs.

Regards
Gaurav

 

[dev514]

Many thanks, Dev!, I realized later that I don't have 'CANT********' acknowledgment number and I'll visit BLS office tomorrow to collect it. Thanks for your inputs.

Regards
Gaurav

Hi Gaurav
You should have this number. Its an online application number that you get when you fill and submit your application for OCI. I dont think you have to go to BLS just for that. Check your email that you used to fill your application it should have a confirmation.

 

[kannadiga]

Hi,

My and my wife both have OCI. Our daughter is born in Canada. We now need to apply OCI for her. What all documents we need to submit?

In the BLS website they have asked for landing papers, latest indian passports, surrender certificates, etc. We already provided these when applying for our OCI cards. Do we need to provide these again or we can just provide our OCI cards?

Also Our OCi card has our old address. Now in our daughter OCi she will have new address. Does this mean we also need to apply for new OCI as our address is changed?

Thanks.

 

[dev514]

Hi,

My and my wife both have OCI. Our daughter is born in Canada. We now need to apply OCI for her. What all documents we need to submit?

In the BLS website they have asked for landing papers, latest indian passports, surrender certificates, etc. We already provided these when applying for our OCI cards. Do we need to provide these again or we can just provide our OCI cards?

Also Our OCi card has our old address. Now in our daughter OCi she will have new address. Does this mean we also need to apply for new OCI as our address is changed?

Thanks.

Hi,
You have to provide everything that is mentioned in the document check list for your daughter. As far as I remember it ask for your and your wife's landing paper. For more details you can call BLS.
In regards to your change of address on your OCIs, you don't have to apply for new OCI if you address changes. You can go to consulate website and under OCI/change of address you can register your new address and they will send/email you an acknowledgement that you can carry with you while traveling along with your OCI. The process is free.