Persons of Indian Origin to obtain
Surrender Certificate on Renunciation of Indian Citizenship
Persons of Indian origin applying for Indian visa, OCI/PIO Card or miscellaneous consular services are required to produce a Surrender Certificate. This Certificate would be issued to them on payment of one-time Renunciation of Indian Citizenship Fee. Salient features of the scheme are listed below:
Ø
Indian citizens acquiring any foreign citizenship on or after 1
June, 2010 must formally renounce Indian citizenship. This can be done by
surrendering their Indian passports for cancellation and obtaining a “Surrender
Certificate” endorsement on the cancelled passport. They would be required
to pay a one time Renunciation Fee of Canadian $ 168 while surrendering their
Indian passports to the High Commission or Consulate. The Indian
passports would be cancelled and returned to the passport holder along with
“Surrender Certificate” endorsement for the future reference.
Ø
Indian citizenship must be formally renounced as soon as
possible after acquiring foreign citizenship.
Ø
Production of Surrender Certificate endorsement is essential
while applying for Indian visa, PIO/OCI card or any other miscellaneous
consular services, in case you acquired Canadian citizenship on or after 1
June, 2010.
Ø
In case, the Indian passport held at the time of acquiring
Canadian citizenship is not available, a statement explaining the circumstances
of the loss/damage, detailed police report of lost passport, the passport
number & date of issue/expiry must be provided, along with proof in support
of your claim.
Ø
The applicant would need to send the following
1.
Original Indian passport with one copy.
2.
Copy of the Canadian Citizenship certificate.
3.
Copy of Canadian passport, if held.
4.
A bank draft or Money order of C$ 168 payable to our Ottawa,
Vancouver or Toronto office to which you are sending the application.
5.
If you want the cancelled Indian Passport by mail, include a
post paid envelope. If you are coming in person, you can pay cash also. We do
not accept any debit or credit card.
Ø
The Mission/Consulates would levy penalty if the Indian passport
has not been cancelled for more than 3 years, or if it had been utilized to visit
(A) Penalty for Retention of Indian
Passport after acquiring
Canadian citizenship for a period in excess of three years from the date of
acquiring Canadian citizenship
(a) if your
Passport expired on or before 31 Dec, 2004 – no penalty
(b) if your
Passport expired on or after 1 Jan, 2005 – C$ 240
In other words, Retention Penalty of C$240 needs to be paid
if both the following two conditions are satisfied:
* The person held an Indian passport which expired on or after 1 January
2005; AND
* The passport remained un-cancelled for a period of 3 years AFTER the
acquisition of the foreign nationality.
If both the above conditions are
satisfied, Retention Penalty will be charged regardless of the date of expiry
of the Indian Passport.
Retention Penalty (C$240) is different from Renunciation Fee (C$ 168). The latter needs
to be paid by those who acquire foreign nationality on or after 1 June, 2010.
(B) Penalty for travelling on Indian
Passport after acquiring
Canadian citizenship is C$ 240 for each time, subject to a maximum of C$ 1,200
(C) Penalty for getting Indian Passport
Renewed or Reissued after
acquiring Canadian citizenship is C$ 600 for each such renewal or reissue.
(D) Penalty for obtaining any
miscellaneous passport service (name change/correction etc.) on Indian Passport
after acquiring Canadian
citizenship is C$ 240 for each such service.
Ø
This procedure of paying Renunciation Fee shall be applicable to
those who acquire Canadian citizenship on 1 June, 2010 or thereafter. Those who
acquired the foreign citizenship on 31 May, 2010 or earlier need not pay the
Renunciation Fee. However, they must get their Indian Passport, whether already
expired or not, duly cancelled. For this, they can approach nearest Indian
Mission which will make necessary entries in the records kept with us, cancel
the passport and return it to you after marking it “Cancelled” for your future
reference. A fee of C$20 is charged for this service.
Ø
It is
essential to keep the Surrender Certificate endorsement very carefully as that
will be required while approaching the Indian High Commission in future.
Ø
Please note that it is a punishable offence under the Indian
Passport Act, 1967 to apply for Indian passport or continue to hold an Indian
passport or get an Indian passport re-issued or to travel on Indian passport
after acquiring foreign citizenship.
Ø
We encourage you to read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) by clicking here.
* * * *
The information on this website about
Consular matters has been presented in a simplified and highly readable format.
It cannot be the basis for a legal claim about any visa/passport service or
imposition of penalty. The Consular Officer will examine each case in the light
of latest guidelines/instructions of the Government on the matter and will
decide the case.