OCI Card with new passport for Minors

[ociquestion1]

Hello,

My kids ages 10 and 5 recently got new US passports. Both of them have OCI cards and have U-visa stickers in their old passports. I called CKGS call center and I was advised to start a OCI reissue application. The time frame for the OCI reissue is 60 business days or 12 weeks and I do not have the time for that since we have to be in India this June to attend a religious function.

Based on what I see in this forum and others is that, you can still travel to India with the old passport and OCI card without any hassle. Did anyone have any issue ?

I started with a tourist visa application just in case but when I was directed to the indian gov website, it started asking questions like, have you ever traveled to India ? When you select yes, it asks what visa you had, for which it does not have OCI as one of the option for the visa.

Thorough nightmare to get a simple thing sorted out.

Can someone confirm who have traveled recently, confirm that you can travel with the old documents and the new passport without any hassle ?

[CKGS Visa Services]

Dear Applicant,*

We request you to share your queries and contact details at [email protected] to better assist you.

Please mention the link of this post and case id:02107469 in your email.

Regards,
CKGS USA Team.

[desigirlinsf]

I asked the CKGS the same question since we are in the same predicament. They said that you can travel to India with the new passport, old passport and old OCI. The benefit of renewing OCI is so that you dont have to carry the old passport.

[dockulsing]

oci re issuance

HI

I have applied for OCI re issuance for my son as he has got a new passport issued (as he is 5 years old). We moved to India 2 years back and have applied for this re issuance in India. It has still not arrived and I need to travel with my son overseas next month

I have been told by the FRRO office at Delhi that as long as I have both the passports of my son with me (old and new ) alongwith the old OCI card and the acknowledgement slip from the FRRO saying that we have applied for a new OCI, it should not be a problem at the immigration when we fly out.

Is this true? Does anyone have any experience of this.

[dockulsing]

I asked the CKGS the same question since we are in the same predicament. They said that you can travel to India with the new passport, old passport and old OCI. The benefit of renewing OCI is so that you dont have to carry the old passport.

so did u travel to India with the old and new passport and old OCi card?

[kpat2704]

Hi

Much has been discussed about the renewal of OCI requirements for minor up to the age of 21 and for the over 50s.
I would like to share my recent experience as this forum has been quite informative for my travel needs. I travelled to Jaipur from London on 22/10/2017. Both my daughters (aged 13 and 15) had new passports, however, the OCI referenced the old passport numbers. Both old passports had the now defunct Uvisa stickers. My wife (aged 46) had her passport renewed too. According to the rules as stated on the website, she would be fine as hadn't reached 50 yet. My passport was still valid with the OCI it referenced. I mention the above as it covers most scenarios. I did carry all the old passports with me.
As a side note, I did try to get the OCI re-issued for my daughters to reference the new passports. However, the whole process is a total joke and nightmare. They would quite happily accept a postal application for a new OCI but re-issuance requires a personal trip to the embassy which is an uphill struggle at the best of times. I also e-mailed VFS to ask for their opinion but they replied with a standard cut and paste from the website which states that OCI needs to be re-issued for minors.

Anyway, I decided to chance it. My travel agent friend advised me that if old and new passports were carried there would be no issue. He was also talking from his own personal trip. When we landed in Jaipur, I just handed in the new passports and the OCI cards but did not show the old passports. I was expecting the officer to ask me for these. To my surprise, no such information was requested and we were able to clear immigration without any issue.

This was my experience but would of course add that each officer, airport, etc. may have their own way of operating.

Hope this helps.

[BijuK]

Beware of airlines acceptance of OCI on old passport

A friend of mine and his family were travelling to India with an OCI card and a new US passport ... the OCI card referenced the old US passport. Airlines refused boarding passes and said that it was an internal policy to disallow passengers that didn't have a OCI referencing the newer passport. My friend had to then apply for an evisa and travel on a different day ... do check with your airlines ahead of your travel date to make sure...

[raky801]

A friend of mine and his family were travelling to India with an OCI card and a new US passport ... the OCI card referenced the old US passport. Airlines refused boarding passes and said that it was an internal policy to disallow passengers that didn't have a OCI referencing the newer passport. My friend had to then apply for an evisa and travel on a different day ... do check with your airlines ahead of your travel date to make sure...

Can you please share which airline was this?

TIA,

[rliwma]

what airlines?

A friend of mine and his family were travelling to India with an OCI card and a new US passport ... the OCI card referenced the old US passport. Airlines refused boarding passes and said that it was an internal policy to disallow passengers that didn't have a OCI referencing the newer passport. My friend had to then apply for an evisa and travel on a different day ... do check with your airlines ahead of your travel date to make sure...

Which airlines was it? This is the first time I am hearing this. My sister went to India in January 2019 with old OCI card and new passport for her minor girl (Air France), no issues. My brother did so from UK in December (Qatar Air), no issue.

[noidea]

Which airlines was it? This is the first time I am hearing this. My sister went to India in January 2019 with old OCI card and new passport for her minor girl (Air France), no issues. My brother did so from UK in December (Qatar Air), no issue.

I recently traveled from the US to Delhi on Air India and had no issues for my minor child who was traveling with OCI registered to the old passport. The old passport has the U lifelong sticker on it but the immigration official didn't even look at the old passport.

[priyankanewjersey]

Any new experiences with recent travel to India with OCI stamped in old passport and old OCI booklet.

[Liberty48]

Thanks, KPAT2704 for sharing your experience. The OCI renewal duration is different at different consulates! Don't know why. They ask for a lot of proof. I don't understand why. If the person has an old passport and a new passport with matching details and the old OCI matches with the old passport, what else you need? This is a bizarre process. I hope CKGS / MEA reads these posts and make it better for us. I guess MEA is being very cautious about OCI being abused. That could be the only reason. It took only a month for my children's OCI renewal. To me, it worth renewing OCI and one less document to fumble around during the trip. Just plan for it as you plan for the passport renewal.

[priyankanewjersey]

One of the requirements is notarizing US passport...how did you do it... AAA and banks are refusing to notarize federal documents such as passports

[Liberty48]

priyankanewjersey Can you please start a new thread for your question.

[vmokshagundam]

Hi

We recently traveled on Lufthansa from DFW to BLR. We did not re-issue OCI for our minor son, after his passport renewal. We had converted PIO to OCI and it has the same pictures, as the gap was almost negligible between his OCI and new PP.

Due to this, my son was almost denied boarding. The agent insisted that the new PP match with what is in OCI, if not we cannot fly. They mentioned that they received a circular just the day before (hard to believe) from Indian government.

My son's OCI is recent, so it does not have a U visa sticker. He just has an OCI card. Luckily, we carried the old passport and after a lot of back and forth arguments (and checking with duty manager of Lufthansa), they finally agreed to issue the boarding passes with a warning that they will absolutely deny boarding next time (not sure how they will track it!).

Ironically, when we presented ourselves to the Indian immigration authorities in BLR, they did not even mention the OCI re-issue at all, nor did they ask for my son's old PP. It almost seemed like there is a big disconnect between the intent of the re-issue vs. how it is implemented by the Indian consulates and CKGS in the US.

In the end, I think it all boils down to money and since no Indian parent is re-issuing OCI for minor kids after each PP renewal, the consulates and CKGS is putting pressure on Airlines to get it done, to keep their revenue stream. If it were just money, we would pay it. But, the process for re-issue, that the Indian consulates and CKGS have come up with is just horrendous. It is unacceptable by any standards and I hope they change it, as it is a pain to go thru this every 5 years. It almost seems like it is better to just get an entry visa, which does not have the same restriction of re-issue even if PP changes.

Bottom line, I HIGHLY recommend you re-issue the OCI to be on the safe side. If not, you are risking your travel plans and are at the mercy of the airline agents.

Hope this helps!