Overseas Citizen of India
What is it ?
This is a permanent visa to India for "foreign" people of Indian Origin. So people who have either had an Indian passport or had Indian parents/ancestors can avail of this. This visa is a similar to the Person of Indian Origin card but with more facilities. The official FAQ is found here.
And the The ministry of External affairs website
What it isnt ?
OCI is NOT dual nationality (Foreign+Indian). OCI just means - you get a permanent visa to India. Same as before : If one aquires a non-Indian passport, they automatically lose their Indian citizenship passport. Therefore people hoping to keep their Indian passport along with their foreign passport will be disappointed.
People can easily find the "official" requirements and processes for going about aquiring the OCI visa. What follows is the "real" process and tips which are not mentioned anywhere and the location being HCI London, Aldwych, London, UK.
Application
This is a 2 part application. Part A is to be completed online here. A unique number will be generated once you finishing Part A of the application. Print this document out and manually fill our part B of the application. WARNING : Make sure you have generated your unique Part A number/code. Without this, there isnt a hope in hell that the OCI officer is going to process your application. Lots of people turn up in HCI london without Part A/unique application number. You can use it to your advantage as detailed below.
Photos
The required size is 35x35 mm and with a WHITE background. The "Scanner" is India is highly sensitive and if your photo does not fulfill this requirement, be prepared for long delays in your application. They also warn that "digitally modified" photos are not acceptable. (Hah !!). You might find useful information about generating photos of the required sizes here. (Hi Spark)
Only 15 Tokens for OCI applicants are issued per day.
This means its best to arrive early so that you arent dissapointed. (& dont waste a day)
(Note : In order to get into the HCI building, you need SOME token atleast). If you arent among the 15 lucky ones, try doing this. Get ANY token from the counter, (example : visa, passport cancellation etc). Get inside HCI and go to first floor and turn right to the OCI cubicle. What i noticed, is that inspite of clear instructions on the HCI website, people applying for OCI, either turn up with the wrong documents or incomplete details and generally waste the officers time. Time for your master move. Now that the officer is free, due to the dim wits turning up for OCI (obviously they havent read this blog), you can (assuming that your docs are good and read to go) go into the OCI cubicle and "convince" the officer to process your case. Normally the officer is so pissed off due to the dim wits, he will treat you like an angel. (again make sure you are not a dim wit).
Applications by post
Officially HCI does not accept applications for OCI by post. But according to other applicants, it is being done. Apparently, you can send all the required documents (attested) by post (minus your original passports). Once your application gets looked at, you get a letter asking you to present your passports at HCI london for verification. This process is slower and unpublished, use at your own risk and subject to the whims & fancies of HCI London. You can try sending your original passports by post but I dont recommend it. HCI London is very good in losing your documents.
Once applied, your application can be tracked on the Ministry of external affairs website with the unique part A application number or the file number of your application. The total time taken is supposed to be 6 weeks. Mine took 3+ months mainly due to the fact that I was among the initial "high rush" batch of OCI applicants and party due to the fact that the background of my photo was off-white (??!!)
What do you get
Nothing much :-) apart from the following
- 2 whole days wasted at HCI London, Aldwych. Make sure to have timing killing plans while you are there. (Sightseeing, Walking along the Thames etc)
- Overseas Citizen of India (Certificate of Registration). A passport style document with your photos and just 4-5 pages. Worthless for travel. It is supposed to be a backup document to the OCI visa sticker on your foreign passport. Green Photo at the top of this blog.
- OCI Visa Sticker on your foreign passport similar to mine (Hi Tony)
posted by FunkiBluDawg @ 8:12 pm
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