Travelling to India with Indian and Canadian passport

[vicwest]

Ok, I'm advising as this thread is ridiculously getting out of hand

First, unless you are travelling to India within 10 days of acquiring Canadian citizenship (aka oath), don't try anything fancy.

The surrender certificate is issued at the Indian consulate and it took me 7 days to get it (including mail delivery). You can surrender your Indian passport on the day you acquire Citizenship. You don't need a Canadian passport to surrender your Indian passport. Oath certificate is fine.

1. Get Oath (Day 01)
2. Surrender Indian passport (Day 01 or 02)
3. Get Canadian passport (Day 03 or 04)
4. Get surrender certificate (Day 07 to 10)
5. Apply eVisa after getting surrender certificate

Avoid any possible issues with immigration officers - that's the last thing you want to deal with

For others, you can enter India with your Indian passport but you cannot exit with your Canadian passport. Doesn't matter what the website says, this is a fact. If you plan to stay for more than 2 months, consider travelling to India and get the required papers to exit the country. Else, just postpone your oath ceremony

 

[Sam20901]

What if we don’t get surrender certificate in a weeks time? Can we apply for evisa without surrender certificate? Can we travel on evisa which surrender processing is ongoing?

 

[niagara2807]

What if we don’t get surrender certificate in a weeks time? Can we apply for evisa without surrender certificate? Can we travel on evisa which surrender processing is ongoing?

You can travel on evisa without surrendering the passport but make sure the entry and exit are through the CAN passport.

 

[niagara2807]

Hi - This is for Vancouver consulate applicants only - Of late has anybody applied for a tourist visa to India and if so what were the processing times, please.

 

[Sam20901]

You can travel on evisa without surrendering the passport but make sure the entry and exit are through the CAN passport.

Thanks!

After acquiring Canadian citizenship (and OCI), has anything needs to be changed:
- Existing Mutual fund investments
- Existing NRE account
- Indian Driving License

What happens to the property if someone who purchased a property in Canada decides to go back to India in future and renounce Canadian Citizenship?

 

[Sam20901]

What reason to give for renouncing Indian citizenship keeping in mind that in future might want to get back Indian citizenship? suggestions?

source: saw a news article-
Changed rules to seek reasons for renouncing Indian citizens ..

Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/66339642.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

 

[niagara2807]

Thanks!

After acquiring Canadian citizenship (and OCI), has anything needs to be changed:
- Existing Mutual fund investments
- Existing NRE account
- Indian Driving License

What happens to the property if someone who purchased a property in Canada decides to go back to India in future and renounce Canadian Citizenship?

I am no expert but I think with OCI status - you could maintain MF.
Technically, once you are a Canadian - you are no longer NRI and hence NRE is to be closed.
Technically, once you are a Canadian - you should not have Indian driving license, although you could have International driving license.

 

[Sam20901]

I am no expert but I think with OCI status - you could maintain MF.
Technically, once you are a Canadian - you are no longer NRI and hence NRE is to be closed.
Technically, once you are a Canadian - you should not have Indian driving license, although you could have International driving license.

I think both NRE and license can be kept per my web search so far. It looks like both NRI and OCI are at par when it comes to accounts, license, MF etc.. Correct me if anyone had a different experience.

For NRE:
https://www.canarabank.com/media/4505/faq-nri-n.pdf

 

[niagara2807]

I think both NRE and license can be kept per my web search so far. It looks like both NRI and OCI are at par when it comes to accounts, license, MF etc.. Correct me if anyone had a different experience.

For NRE:
https://www.canarabank.com/media/4505/faq-nri-n.pdf

Sam - Thanks for the pdf. I understand that you can have NRE account under NRI or OCI. But if you have an existing NRE which I presume opened under NRI and you if have obtained OCI then would it not require that NRE account updated/changed under OCI? And would the bank agree to switch over from NRI to OCI under the same account (It is not that you cannot have NRE). I am curious to know.

With regard to Driving license, it is not that you cannot get driving license with OCI. It is related to holding 2 valid licenses from 2 diff countries at the same time. My understanding is one can have only one driving license at any time. For e.g. You have OCI and apply for DL in India...you would get DL for 10 years. But once you are in back in the province....you can drive with that for 2-3 months beyond that you need to get your province DL or hold International license.

 

[Sam20901]

No problem

I think there is no account change required as you are still “NRI”..remember seeing this online but definitely a better idea if you can search it or find more Info

As far as I know, it should be valid to have two DLs - India and Canada. Before citizenship, I guess most of the families had both Indian and Canadian licenses..

Sam - Thanks for the pdf. I understand that you can have NRE account under NRI or OCI. But if you have an existing NRE which I presume opened under NRI and you if have obtained OCI then would it not require that NRE account updated/changed under OCI? And would the bank agree to switch over from NRI to OCI under the same account (It is not that you cannot have NRE). I am curious to know.

With regard to Driving license, it is not that you cannot get driving license with OCI. It is related to holding 2 valid licenses from 2 diff countries at the same time. My understanding is one can have only one driving license at any time. For e.g. You have OCI and apply for DL in India...you would get DL for 10 years. But once you are in back in the province....you can drive with that for 2-3 months beyond that you need to get your province DL or hold International license.

 

[macwhitby]

Hi Folks,
1)Is it mandatory to surrender Indian passport after getting Canadian passport ?
2)Is it better to take Indian VISA or OCI, we don't have any plans to stay in India for more than six months .
TIA.

 

[sajc]

1) yes its mandatory as long as you want to visit India later on.
2)OCI gives you unlimited travel so even if you are not staying more than 6 months...I think it's better to get it as it's hassle free every time you need to travel

 

[JJS]

Hi Folks,
1)Is it mandatory to surrender Indian passport after getting Canadian passport ?
2)Is it better to take Indian VISA or OCI, we don't have any plans to stay in India for more than six months .
TIA.

1. It is absolutely mandatory.
2. OCI is better even if you plan to travel every2-3 years as it saves you the hassle of applying visa and having to deal with India Consulate again.

 

[venugopalt]

I have no issue if there is long delay after Oath reschedule.
But will Canadian immigration accept this reason for rescheduling?

Can you update what you ended up doing? Did you re-schedule the oath? I am curious as I am in the same boat.
I am waiting for my oath ceremony and a trip to India in July. Also our PR cards are expiring in June. Just want to know if I have reschedule the oath if it comes in May or June. Appreciate your response.

 

[JJS]

Can you update what you ended up doing? Did you re-schedule the oath? I am curious as I am in the same boat.
I am waiting for my oath ceremony and a trip to India in July. Also our PR cards are expiring in June. Just want to know if I have reschedule the oath if it comes in May or June. Appreciate your response.

Well, Indian consulate was least helpful, i ended up calling high commission in ottawa and they said the grace period of 3 months is not for travelling to india but other countries for which we might have visas on Indian passport. For India they said you can get in trouble with immigration, they had no sure answers and the conversation was full was 'mights', 'maybe', 'could be', 'very likely'. But in the end they recommended surrendering the passport and then travelling by applying eVisa. once you have your oath, you can apply to surrender right away and it takes around 7 business days to get your surrender certificate in the mail. I think in the meantime you can go ahead and apply for eVisa. But the only thing to make sure is, you must have eVisa and CDN passport before you enter India, no matter what.

As far as rescheduling the oath is concerned, you could always do that and then see when you turn shows up again which could take a while.

For me personally, the oath got scheduled at a time when i was back from my India trip, hence i did not have to worry about the mess. But just followe the rulebook when it comes to Indian embassy, anything out of way could only make things worse.