Late news - The rule has been amended !! Go to bottom. > > A recent rule from Government of India regarding overseas Indians may > affect a lot of us. If you are an Indian Citizen with a valid Indian > Passport, you have no issue and you can ignore this email. > > However, if you are a foreign passport holder (e.g., USA, or any country > other than India) and a former Indian Citizen (i.e., you had a passport > from Government of India before you obtained your foreign citizenship) , > you should read this email. Even you have a existing OCI visa or valid > tourist visa for India, you may be affected. > > According to new rules, persons of Indian origin who acquired foreign > citizenship, must surrender their Indian passports immediately after the > acquisition of foreign citizenship and also obtain a Surrender Certificate > – and pay a price. There’s a $175 fee for the surrender of the passport for > each member of the family and that’s on top of the regular visa fees. Now > strict new rules have been posted on the websites of Indian consulates > worldwide, a surrender certificate must be acquired. In case you are not > aware, over the last few days, people with valid visas are even being > stopped and sometimes were not able to enter India. This rule was issued on > May 25 and already created big protests in many places. Now, here it even > went to another extreme - this rule was put in effect for everyone no > matter when they got their foreign citizenship. Indians who left their > homeland 40 years back are now feverishly searching for their old passports > so that they can hand them over to the Consulate and get the all-important > Surrender Certificate. Otherwise, they can’t go home. Talk about > procrastination on the part of the government! The penalties for retaining > and reusing the Indian passport after obtaining a foreign passport are > retroactive and can go from a simple (?) $175 for a surrender certificate > to up to $2,000 with penalties if applicable. The Government of India has > prescribed imposition of penalty on a graded scale, depending on number of > trips made on Indian passport after acquiring foreign nationality, for the > violation of Passport Rules and retention of Indian Passport for more than > 3 years after acquiring of foreign nationality. > > If this rule affects you, you can sign a petition to oppose Retroactive > Enforcement of New Rules for Surrender of Indian Passport. Visit Petition > Online at: > > http://www.petition online.com/ ip100521/ petition. html
> > Late breaking News! As of today, 5 AM, Government of India has updated > their ruling as follows: > > > http://www.indiacgny.org/php/showHighLightDet.php?h_id=144&key= > > Fees for Obtaining Surrender / Renunciation Certificate Waived > > In view of a large number of representations received from Persons of > Indian Origin, it has been decided that the fees for obtaining > Renunciation/ Surrender Certificate from applicants who have acquired US > citizenships before June 1, 2010 will be waived. However, a miscellaneous > service fee of US$ 20/- will be charged for surrender of passport for > cancellation. No penalties will be charged. Already decided cases will, > however, not be reopened. Indian passport holders who acquire US/foreign > citizenship on or after June 1, 2010 will, however, be required to pay the > fees of US$ 175/- for obtaining Renunciation/ Surrender certificate. > > > As you can see, the power of mass appeal is already taking the authorities > in the right direction. >
