Recent changes announced that have affected the processing of Visas/PIO/OCI cards:
1. Need to renounce Indian citizenship: The rules and the fees for renunciation of Indian citizenship is not a new regulation but derives from the Indian Citizenship Rules of 1956, which was renotified with amendments by the Ministry of Home Affairs as Citizenship Rules 2009, and came into force from 25 Feb, 2009. The fee had been revised on few occasions in the past and the present fee structure is valid from 25.2.2009.
(a) The present fees of $20 being charged by the Consulate for renunciation certificates, is actually a miscellaneous service fee.
(b) The actual fees of $175 is being charged for renunciation from applicants who naturalized on or after 1.6.2010.
(c) The Government has clarified that there would be no refund of fees which were received during the brief period in June 2010 when $175 was charged for renunciation of Indian citizenship since at that time the rules were in effect. (d) Based on the request of the Indian community to not charge the renunciation fee retroactively, the Ministry agreed to set 31.5.2010 as the cut off date for the purpose of renunciation fee between past and future cases.
2. Renunciation versus surrender: Surrender of Indian Passport cannot be completed in the absence of the physical last held Indian Passport. However, we have made it possible for those who have lost their last held Indian Passport to fill out a certificate of renunciation of Indian citizenship form, which is also available on our website. A notarised affidavit stating that the last Indian passport is lost and that it was not misused for travel, would be required along with the application.
3. Details of penalties imposed for misuse of Indian passports can be seen on the Ministry of Home Affairs website. Penalty is applicable only for misuse of Indian passports whose final validity expired on or after 1.1.2005. Penalty would arise for misuse of Indian passport after 90 days of acquisition of foreign nationality. Penalty would be levied if a person retains the Indian passport beyond 3 years of acquisition of foreign nationality or travels on the Indian passport beyond the grace period of 3 months on a passport whose final validity expired on or after 1 January 2005.
4. Entry visas and tourist visas can both be taken by people of Indian origin: There is a rule requiring a gap of 60 days before reentering India on Tourist visas. Waivers to reenter India within 60 days on tourist visas can be given by the Consulate to existing Tourist visa holders only for travel in death or serious medical emergency pertaining to a close family member. Those who need to travel frequently should either obtain OCI cards or Entry visas as waivers would not be given for routine travel. Re-entry restrictions only apply to Tourist visa holders. The responsibility for avoiding misuse of visa vests on the traveler.
5. There have been a large number of inquiries regarding the need for the renunciation or surrender certificate for travel to India. The certificate is not required for travel. However, the law requires that all Indian Passports be surrendered on acquisition of foreign nationality.
6. We have also seen a very emotional response from the community to some of these requirements. Please understand that the Consulate is only an implementing agency. However, we do convey the sentiments of the community to the government but the final decision is that of thr GOI. Please also understand that there have been several cases of abuse of Indian Passports which resulted in strict enforcement of already existing rules.
7. One of the frequent complaints that we receive is that we don’t answer telephones and emails. As far as possible Consul General and other officers directly respond to emails received by them. The CG does not respond to routine requests for expediting or status in consular queries. In cases where the answers are already available on our website, we sometimes are unable to respond due to the sheer volume of emails. Currently, we do not respond to most telephone calls for two reasons: it is impossible to answer specific questions pertaining to individual cases without having the details in front and secondly, it is better to have the questions and answers in writing so that there is no misunderstanding by either party;
8. Consistent efforts are being made to improve the quality of services being provided by the Consulate and Travisa based upon the feedback received from the applicants.
9. We are often asked for the rationale for a particular documentary requirement or a rule. Please rest assured that we have good reasons to ask for the same and a protracted argument on these is of no use. Your work would be done much faster if you provide the documents asked for at the first instance.
10. We are often pressured by applicants to rush their cases on the ground that they had booked their tickets. While we understand your predicament, we have always been advising not to book your tickets before receiving your visas. |