Question regarding OCI renewal for minors....

[usulbaggins]

Hello everyone,

This is my first time here. Great forum. Very useful in navigating the Kafkaesque Indian bureaucracy.

Let me explain my situation.

The wife and I became naturalized citizens about a decade ago. Right away, we got OCI for ourselves and our children, both born in USA. As it turned out, never had a chance to use it since we never did visit India in the last decade. Fast forward to now, just renewed our passports. Kids have new passports as well. We know we can travel with new passport + old passport + OCI since we fall in the 20-49 age group. The kids are still minors and, thus, we will need to do something about their OCI in terms of moving it to new passport.

So I started looking into it. We have plenty of time since the earliest we might go to India would be end of 2017. That being said, I am not sure what's the best course of action. I know I have plenty of time to renew theirs (and maybe ours) OCI. However, I am not sure about the "renunciation" certificate that is required for their OCI renewal. I am not sure I ever did get one of those. Is this something that was introduced after 2006-7? How would I go about getting one? Do I need to get that first and then pursue their OCI renewal?

Is it better for me just to get the kids couple of tourist e-Visas since we never did even use the OCI? Sounds simple enough but I am not sure if it is legal given that they have held the OCI, even though it was never used.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Once again, great forum. Very useful for a newbie like me.

[proonindiandoc]

Hello everyone,

This is my first time here. Great forum. Very useful in navigating the Kafkaesque Indian bureaucracy.

Let me explain my situation.

The wife and I became naturalized citizens about a decade ago. Right away, we got OCI for ourselves and our children, both born in USA. As it turned out, never had a chance to use it since we never did visit India in the last decade. Fast forward to now, just renewed our passports. Kids have new passports as well. We know we can travel with new passport + old passport + OCI since we fall in the 20-49 age group. The kids are still minors and, thus, we will need to do something about their OCI in terms of moving it to new passport.

So I started looking into it. We have plenty of time since the earliest we might go to India would be end of 2017. That being said, I am not sure what's the best course of action. I know I have plenty of time to renew theirs (and maybe ours) OCI. However, I am not sure about the "renunciation" certificate that is required for their OCI renewal. I am not sure I ever did get one of those. Is this something that was introduced after 2006-7? How would I go about getting one? Do I need to get that first and then pursue their OCI renewal?

Is it better for me just to get the kids couple of tourist e-Visas since we never did even use the OCI? Sounds simple enough but I am not sure if it is legal given that they have held the OCI, even though it was never used.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Once again, great forum. Very useful for a newbie like me.

First of all, your kids can travel with the old passport, current passport and OCI card which same as yours. secondly, according to the new update, OCI Misc. application for minor who apply basis on Indian parents, is no longer ask for proof of Renunciation from parents. Plus, you can travel while on the processing of the OCI Misc. because Consulate is not asking to submit the OCI card and old passport for Misc. services. However, the Renunciation is strongly recommended to do as soon as possible. Yes, the Renunciation is new, it launched only after 2010 June, and it required to all the naturalized former Indian citizen to mandatory renounce the Indian citizen by applying the Renunciation either via Consulate or outsourcing agency with or without the latest Indian passport.

[usulbaggins]

First of all, your kids can travel with the old passport, current passport and OCI card which same as yours. secondly, according to the new update, OCI Misc. application for minor who apply basis on Indian parents, is no longer ask for proof of Renunciation from parents. Plus, you can travel while on the processing of the OCI Misc. because Consulate is not asking to submit the OCI card and old passport for Misc. services. However, the Renunciation is strongly recommended to do as soon as possible. Yes, the Renunciation is new, it launched only after 2010 June, and it required to all the naturalized former Indian citizen to mandatory renounce the Indian citizen by applying the Renunciation either via Consulate or outsourcing agency with or without the latest Indian passport.

That is good to hear. Do you happen to have a link/URL for this update?

[ProNRI]

My very recent personal experience will help.

That is good to hear. Do you happen to have a link/URL for this update?

Maybe my very recent personal experience will help:

On December 24, 2016 my wife and I, along with our two children (both children have their renewed US passports, and old (original) OCI cards that we never got reissued/renewed), landed at the Ahmedabad international airport. To my pleasant surprise, we had absolutely no trouble passing through the immigration process despite defying the OCI reissue rule outright! So much so, that the immigration officers did not even ask for my children's old passports that have the U Visa stickers on them - let alone any question on why we did not get the children's OCI cards reissued after when the US passports were renewed! All we had to present was our current passports and original OCI cards!

What does this tell me! This tells me that the OCI reissue requirement posted on the Indian consulate websites and CKGS website is absolutely bogus and meaningless when it comes to its execution at the immigration check points at the international airports in India. I think that nobody at the immigration check points even know about it or care about it.

However, before they start imposing this requirement at the immigration check points at Indian international airports, they should better have made the OCI reissue process absolutely simple, reliable and quick.