Overview
Surrender and Renunciation of Indian Citizenship applies only to applicants of Indian Origin.
Under The Indian Citizenship Act, 1955, Persons of Indian Origin is not allowed DUAL Citizenship. If a person has ever held an Indian Passport and has obtained the Passport of another country, they will be required to surrender their Indian Passport immediately after gaining another Country’s nationality.
If a person has ever held an Indian passport and has obtained the passport of another country, they will be required to surrender their Indian passport immediately after gaining another country's nationality.
After Renunciation of Indian Citizenship, it is necessary to apply for Surrender or a Renunciation certificate.
A stamp saying "cancelled due to acquiring foreign nationality" is required. It should be noted that Indian passports that carry only a "cancelled stamp" are not considered renounced of their Indian citizenship.
While applying for consular services Visa or OCI, it is mandatory to provide proof of your cancelled Indian passport. If such evidence cannot be provided, applicants will be required to obtain a renunciation certificate.
While applying for Renunciation of Indian Citizenship, there are many procedures that must be followed, including the submission of the duly filled application form as well as current photographs and relevant documents. While enquiring about the fees that are levied for the relevant stamps and certificates, it is also essential to identify your area of jurisdiction and service centers.
It is not necessary for travellers to carry a Certificate of Renunciation of Indian Citizenship during their travel to India.
It should be noted that it is illegal to continue to use an Indian passport after the renunciation of Indian citizenship and defaulters will be faced with penalties.
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Guidelines for Shipping Service & its packaging
- VFS offered courier service via UPS - points to note
- You can select and pay for VFS provided courier service at the time of paying the fee online on VFS website.
- Please enclose only one application per package. Don’t enclose multiple applications in the same package.
- If used VFS offered courier service via UPS, Max. weight limit per package should be less than 0.5 Lbs & its a signature not required service.
- Pick-up from home/ office service is not included in the price. If you use any additional service, please ensure you make a separate payment directly with UPS.
- Only UPS Pak, UPS envelope or or UPS reusable envelope packaging can be used while shipping your application to the VFS Indian Consular Application Centre. Do not use UPS box or tube. Additional charges will apply if any other type of packaging is used which must be paid before your application is processed.
- Your return shipping address must match with the proof of address submitted as part of your application.
- VFS won't be responsible for any delays or damages if packages are in transit for inbound or outbound couriers.
- Use your own pre-paid labels
- FedEx pre-paid labels are not acceptable to return your documents.
- Return address on the shipping label must match the address on the application form. Do not provide shipping address of Courier stores or Hold at Location stations.
- We don’t accept USPS pre-paid labels having expiry date limitation.
- Since our agreement of services is with UPS only, we cannot guarantee collection of your shipment by any other service provider from our office. You are responsible for tracking your package and schedule a pick up from the VFS Consular application Centre once ready.
- VFS won't be responsible for any delays or damages if packages are in transit for inbound or outbound couriers.
- VFS offered courier service via UPS - points to note
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Policy - Return of incomplete documents after 20 days.
Incomplete application: If the application is not completed within 20 calendar days, then VFS will return your application unprocessed. In this scenario, the Consular and ICWF fee will be refunded post deduction of applicable postal charges (if applicable). Photocopy documents received after 20 days will be shredded and originals if any received will be returned to the Embassy of India or Consulate General of India. Applicants should contact the Embassy of India or Consulate General of India directly to receive their original documents, once VFS returns the original documents to the Embassy of India or Consulate General of India. In this scenario, only the Consular and ICWF fee will be refunded post deduction of applicable postal charges (if applies).
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Policy – Additional documents after 07 days.
Additional documents: If the additional documents are not completed within 07 calendar days then Embassy/Consulates may stop processing your application. In this scenario, no fees will be refunded.
