Minor OCI updation problem

[paess]

Hi, my child (11) and I are both Australian passport holders with OCI. Her Australian passport was recently renewed. So, I need to update her passport details and photo.

I am her mother and sole parent through donor-IVF, legally done through a registered IVF clinic in Australia. I am not married, divorced, or widowed, and do not have a male partner.

In my child's original OCI application, I had provided her birth certificate with me listed as the sole parent, plus an additional affidavit from my fertility specialist, as well as a statutory declaration with the above information. I received the OCI without a problem.

In 2018 her OCI was reissued (as was the procedure then) also without a problem.

But now there's a problem. The 'OCI miscellaneous services’ online form will not allow me to leave the ‘father’s nationality’ field blank. There is no ‘NA’ or a text box option to explain either. It is a compulsory drop down field. Thus I can’t complete the online updation.

I contacted VFS helpline and was told to contact the Indian Consulate in my city directly. I've emailed them but am yet to hear back.

I need to to travel to India in early Dec with my daughter. I'm hoping that someone can help me with a possible solution. Thanks!

[Liberty48]

Did you get a response? Please post it so someone else in the same situation can benefit. I would suggest using your nationality for the father option.

[paess]

Thanks for the response, Liberty48. I haven't yet received a reply from the consulate. Their phone number is a generic one and only gives recorded information. I'm planning on going there personally and trying to speak to a consular officer. I'm worried that there will be further complications if I put my own nationality for the father option, as there is no such legal entity. I'll definitely update when I have an answer.

[paess]

Hello, someone from the Consulate finally responded to me and suggested the same thing as Liberty48 - that I should just use my nationality in the Father's nationality field. Great.

So I'm currently trying to fill the form, and after filling out everything, I keep getting the error message: Applicant is submiting wrong service Code. I don't know what this means as there's no explanation. I've got this message twice now after filling the whole form. I'd be grateful if anyone knows what this means, and how I can avoid it! I'm using Firefox as this is a recommended browser.

[Liberty48]

The OCI application site has some unknown problems. It may work later. Try it on a different computer or browser. You can also try deleting the browser cache and cookies and trying again.

[paess]

Thank you!