URGENT!! Travel to India on e-visa right after oath without Surrender Certificate experience

[akbardxb]

Isn't it true you can use your Indian passport for upto 3 months since becoming a foreign citizen?

"A grace period of three months is allowed from the date of acquisition of foreign citizenship, for the purpose of travel on an Indian Passport. Therefore, no penalty will be leviable for travel on an Indian passport within three months of acquisition of a foreign passport. "

This has been discussed here numerous times. A few days ago, someone posted about travelling to India on Indian PP and then trying to book an appointment in India for its cancellation. You may want to search the forum to see if they have provided an update.
Knowing Indian babudom, I'd hate to try out a grace period option which no one really knows much about.

 

[akbardxb]

Thank you, have you or your acquaintances followed this ?

Family became citizens in 2020 just before Covid started. Did not surrender passport till Jun 2022. Didn't use the Indian PP for any purpose.

I know someone who hasn't surrendered their Indian PP even after 10 years - used to travel on e-visa as a Canadian and then when e-visa was stopped, didn't travel to India at all. Don't know if they have travelled after e-visa was reinstated recently.

I feel the missions here have been set up only to fleece former & current Indian citizens in Canada, going by the charges we pay for their service via their service provider. The rot goes all the way to the top and I am sure everyone in South Block gets a cut.

 

[abbas.pasha]

@arlaadaa I remember you mentioned that you visited India recently and after you came back you applied for OCI in Canada
Maybe you can share your experience if you visited India on a eVisa or Tourist/Entry visa ?

 

[lr108]

You cannot apply for surrender & OCI on the same day. BLS also needs to pay salary to their employees so have to fleece your with exorbitant courier charges, multiple trips, photo-rejection-scam etc etc.

Ouch...so we are looking at like 3-4 months for surrendering and getting OCI I guess?

 

[abbas.pasha]

Ouch...so we are looking at like 3-4 months for surrendering and getting OCI I guess?

Yes sound about right...
We applied for Surrender in Nov last year and got it in Dec (4 weeks)
We applied for OCI end of Dec and received the OCI in third week of Feb (8 weeks)
These were in person applications. If you plan to courier the documents, addition time will have to be factored in

You will have to plan for getting the appointments booked in advance for these 2 processes. Walk ins are possible but usually BLS discourages on that.

 

[akbardxb]

Yes sound about right...
We applied for Surrender in Nov last year and got it in Dec (4 weeks)
We applied for OCI end of Dec and received the OCI in early Feb (8 weeks)
These were in person applications. If you plan to courier the documents, addition time will have to be factored in

You will have to plan for getting the appointments booked in advance for these 2 processes. Walk ins are possible but usually BLS discourages on that.

May I suggest, take a day off and get it done in person. If there is a mistake in your application or your photo is rejected, courier charges will have to be paid again. We went as a family of 5 - kids skipped school, wife and I took the day off for submission and picking up. Had no desire to pay in excess of $500 for courier alone.

 

[abbas.pasha]

May I suggest, take a day off and get it done in person. If there is a mistake in your application or your photo is rejected, courier charges will have to be paid again. We went as a family of 5 - kids skipped school, wife and I took the day off for submission and picking up. Had no desire to pay in excess of $500 for courier alone.

What if someone is in an city which has no BLS presence
A friend of mine in Regina only had the option to send it by courier to BLS Vancouver

 

[akbardxb]

What if someone is in an city which has no BLS presence
A friend of mine in Regina only had the option to send it by courier to BLS Vancouver

If you don't have an option, you don't have an option! One has to decide what their time is worth. I don't make $500 in a day so was ok to take the day off and save on courier & Brampton is not that far for me

 

[CANADA-1]

Wonder how long it takes to get the evisa vs surrendering passport + getting OCI

e visa 72 hrs max
surrender defecate average time 6 week
oci average time 8 week and up

 

[arlaadaa]

@arlaadaa I remember you mentioned that you visited India recently and after you came back you applied for OCI in Canada
Maybe you can share your experience if you visited India on a eVisa or Tourist/Entry visa ?

Yes, I and family had e-visa to travel to India. My wife travelled a month before me without any issues. When I travelled, I was stopped from boarding at London, as the e-visa did not have a picture whereas visitor visa issued in UK had a picture which is a printout as well. There was no evidence on cgi toronto website to prove that my e-visa was issued by CGI.

After everyone boarded, 1 guy called up his supervisor and they asked him to check the name and pass port number on paper are matching, then they allowed me to board.

I came back on May 05th and applied for OCI on May 12th. Like many others I had lots of fight with the BLS agent, supervisor, helpdesk guys and managed to submit the application on the same day. Started processing on May 17th, hoping to receive it by end of june.

Note: I did fight during my surender as well, and I got my surender certificate only after 2 full months.

 

[sajjarapu]

Yes, I and family had e-visa to travel to India. My wife travelled a month before me without any issues. When I travelled, I was stopped from boarding at London, as the e-visa did not have a picture whereas visitor visa issued in UK had a picture which is a printout as well. There was no evidence on cgi toronto website to prove that my e-visa was issued by CGI.

After everyone boarded, 1 guy called up his supervisor and they asked him to check the name and pass port number on paper are matching, then they allowed me to board.

I came back on May 05th and applied for OCI on May 12th. Like many others I had lots of fight with the BLS agent, supervisor, helpdesk guys and managed to submit the application on the same day. Started processing on May 17th, hoping to receive it by end of june.

Note: I did fight during my surender as well, and I got my surender certificate only after 2 full months.

Thank you for the detailed note, did you surrender your passport after coming back to canada ? In other words did they ask for a surrender certificate while at IndiAn immigration or at any other stage of your journey when you went on e-visa ?

 

[arlaadaa]

Thank you for the detailed note, did you surrender your passport after coming back to canada ? In other words did they ask for a surrender certificate while at IndiAn immigration or at any other stage of your journey when you went on e-visa ?

No, we travelled without our Indian passport and SC. WE had our submitted our passports for surrender.

 

[johnjkjk]

No, we travelled without our Indian passport and SC. WE had our submitted our passports for surrender.

Did you submit for surrender before travelling to India? What was their excuse for it taking 2 months?

Any idea about applying for OCI also, and then traveling on e-visa? Would it keep processing in the background and be ready on return? Or would they stop processing if they do enquiry and find you're in India?

 

[lr108]

Did you submit for surrender before travelling to India? What was their excuse for it taking 2 months?

Any idea about applying for OCI also, and then traveling on e-visa? Would it keep processing in the background and be ready on return? Or would they stop processing if they do enquiry and find you're in India?

Thought you have to drop off your Canadian passport at the Indian Embassy for OCI? So wonder if international travel is possible at all during that period!

 

[abbas.pasha]

Thought you have to drop off your Canadian passport at the Indian Embassy for OCI? So wonder if international travel is possible at all during that period!

Now this is new "Thought you have to drop off your Canadian passport at the Indian Embassy for OCI?"... where did you get this piece of information from ?