Please help | Can someone please let me know if it is mandatory to have Canadian passport to surrender Indian passport?

[satish1990]

Hello,
i havent got my canadian passport yet and it is still in progress. Not sure if it will arrive anytime soon. I was thinking if i can at least start the process of surrendering my Indian passport, so i can travel in January. Can someone please let me know if i need to have my Canadian passport to surrender my indian passport?

Responses are much appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[21Goose]

If you are a Canadian citizen now, you can surrender your Indian passport. You don’t have to have a Canadian passport.

However, how will surrendering your Indian passport help you travel faster??

 

[aeropostale]

Hello,
i havent got my canadian passport yet and it is still in progress. Not sure if it will arrive anytime soon. I was thinking if i can at least start the process of surrendering my Indian passport, so i can travel in January. Can someone please let me know if i need to have my Canadian passport to surrender my indian passport?

Responses are much appreciated.

Thanks,

Yes, you may surrender the Indian passport, without having a Canadian passport. They have no co-relation. Due to the fact that India does not allow dual citizenship, the Indian government recommends that you cancel your passport once you attain a foreign nationality. They allow upto 3 years to cancel your Indian passport, but you may not use it for travel at any case once you have a foreign nationality.

 

[cecapplied]

Hello,
i havent got my canadian passport yet and it is still in progress. Not sure if it will arrive anytime soon. I was thinking if i can at least start the process of surrendering my Indian passport, so i can travel in January. Can someone please let me know if i need to have my Canadian passport to surrender my indian passport?

Responses are much appreciated.

Thanks,

Per the process, you don't, however, the experiences has been that it is good to do after you get your passport. There is a field in the surrender application to include your passport number if you have one. and it makes things nice and smooth

Another suggestion for holding on till you get your passport would be to apply for both your OCI and Surrender at the same time. Will save you a lot of hassle and resending of same originals multiple times.

The way they process this is - first they process your surrender application, and use the reciept number of the surrender to process your OCI.

Hope this helps.

 

[satish1990]

Thanks for your response. I called BLS this week and they said they no longer accepting both OCI and surrender applications at the same time starting this week. They wanted applicants to apply for Surrender certificate first and then apply for OCI after the certificate has been received. So, I though I would apply for Surrender Certificate while I wait for my Canadian passport, because the processing times are also increasing.

When I looked at the checklist it was mentioned that to include a letter of explanation if applicant doesn't have a passport. Not sure what reasons would be valid to mention in the letter.

 

[satish1990]

If you are a Canadian citizen now, you can surrender your Indian passport. You don’t have to have a Canadian passport.

However, how will surrendering your Indian passport help you travel faster??

BLS said they no longer accepting both OCI and surrender applications at the same time starting this week. They wanted applicants to apply for Surrender certificate first and then apply for OCI after the certificate has been received. So, I though I would apply for Surrender Certificate while I wait for my Canadian passport, because the processing times are also increasing.

 

[cecapplied]

BLS said they no longer accepting both OCI and surrender applications at the same time starting this week. They wanted applicants to apply for Surrender certificate first and then apply for OCI after the certificate has been received. So, I though I would apply for Surrender Certificate while I wait for my Canadian passport, because the processing times are also increasing.

I stand corrected then, thank you for sharing this new update. As for your letter of explanation, you can probably state that you have recieved your citi cert, and awaiting passport. maybe that will suffice ? the folks at BLS make up rules as they go - so not sure if any formal answer exists

 

[apivan]

Hello Guys!
Apologies if this seems to be a repeated question:
For CGI Vancouver- BLS Vancouver: Can we do Passport Surrender & OCI at the same time?

The reason I'm asking is, there are some answers telling YES and some telling NO. If someone has done it recently, could you please let me know?

Many thanks in advance!

 

[abbas.pasha]

Thanks for your response. I called BLS this week and they said they no longer accepting both OCI and surrender applications at the same time starting this week. They wanted applicants to apply for Surrender certificate first and then apply for OCI after the certificate has been received. So, I though I would apply for Surrender Certificate while I wait for my Canadian passport, because the processing times are also increasing.

When I looked at the checklist it was mentioned that to include a letter of explanation if applicant doesn't have a passport. Not sure what reasons would be valid to mention in the letter.

They want to make your leaving the Indian passport experience painful as well.. this is archaic as it can be

 

[NMontD]

I called the BLS Yesterday. This is was i was told.. Our jurdification falls under IHC Ottawa.

1. You can apply for Indian Passport surrender while your Canadian Passport is in process. You can perhaps show the acknowledgement you received(which as RR****** number), with a covering letter explaining the situation
2. Cannot do Surrendering and OCI in one go. First Surrdender(4-6 weeks) and then OCI

hope this helps

 

[mira.r]

I don't have my CDN passport either and I would like to get started on the surrender application. My question is, do we pay a fine if it's been more than three months since you received Canadian citizenship but haven't surrendered your Indian passport? Or is the three month grace period just for travel?

 

[navid2014]

I don't have my CDN passport either and I would like to get started on the surrender application. My question is, do we pay a fine if it's been more than three months since you received Canadian citizenship but haven't surrendered your Indian passport? Or is the three month grace period just for travel?

When I called BLS in December regarding the same question they told me that there is no fine on surrendering an Indian passport after 3 months of grace period.

 

[mira.r]

When I called BLS in December regarding the same question they told me that there is no fine on surrendering an Indian passport after 3 months of grace period.

Thank you! I will wait to get my CDN passport before I surrender my passport.

 

[Risabh_Canada]

Do we need to submit any original canadian citizenship document like Citizesnship certificate or COPR or Canadian passport ?

 

[arnvfx]

Anyone apply using postal service in Vancouver? Do we have to send in our original Canadian Passport within the application.

Some places I see this text"

"Please enclose photo page of your Canadian / Foreign Passport having photographs and details of your passport. Original Passport is required to be submitted for verification, it will be returned back after verification. Copies must be self-attested (signed) by the applicant"

and some places it says only have to include copies