Hi there,

We did the citizenship test in Dec 2017 and waiting for oath.
They said it might take few months for oath.
We want to send our 12 and 8 yr old kids to India in June
until August and I want to go in August.
Any one has any idea when we can expect oath in Kitchener
Waterloo area of Ontario ?
Once we get oath how long will it take to get Canadian passport ?
Once we get Canadian passport, how long would it take to get the visa to India
and what is the procedure?
I heard OCI takes longer, so thinking to take Indian visa to travel to India.
Your advice is much appreciated.

Thank you
Sirisha.

A visit to their offices will be well worth your time, because your travel depends upon the current Passport Validity. It takes good 10 working days to get the Passport from the Government of Canada. And I have got the same within 12 hours also. That is on a special travel requirement.

You seem to have reasonable time to get it. But it will be nip and tuck, if it extends to a full SIX Month period, which is what they claim as to what they want. They don't bend down to anybody.

So, ask for a new date to get your Oath Taking Ceremony, right now. Tell them WHY!

Book through the travel agent for a RETURN ticket with your PR Cards as the basis and Indian Passport for travels, and arrange for the departure and return.

The rest of the questions can only be answered by the appropriate department and in person. So, take a run to their location and find out the same from them, give them the reason also so that they will give you the proper answers.

Hope this helps.

FH.
--
We did the citizenship test in Dec 2017 and waiting for oath.
They said it might take few months for oath.
We want to send our 12 and 8 yr old kids to India in June
until August and I want to go in August.
Any one has any idea when we can expect oath in Kitchener
Waterloo area of Ontario ?
----
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=363&top=5

FH.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by sirisha

Hi there,

We did the citizenship test in Dec 2017 and waiting for oath.
They said it might take few months for oath.
We want to send our 12 and 8 yr old kids to India in June
until August and I want to go in August.
Any one has any idea when we can expect oath in Kitchener
Waterloo area of Ontario ?
Once we get oath how long will it take to get Canadian passport ?
Once we get Canadian passport, how long would it take to get the visa to India
and what is the procedure?
I heard OCI takes longer, so thinking to take Indian visa to travel to India.
Your advice is much appreciated.

Thank you
Sirisha.

---

Thank you

Quote:

---

Originally posted by sirisha

Hi there,

We did the citizenship test in Dec 2017 and waiting for oath.
They said it might take few months for oath.
We want to send our 12 and 8 yr old kids to India in June
until August and I want to go in August.
Any one has any idea when we can expect oath in Kitchener
Waterloo area of Ontario ?
Once we get oath how long will it take to get Canadian passport ?
Once we get Canadian passport, how long would it take to get the visa to India
and what is the procedure?
I heard OCI takes longer, so thinking to take Indian visa to travel to India.
Your advice is much appreciated.

Thank you
Sirisha.

---

1. You will get a notice in your mail 1 month before your citizenship oath, regarding the day, time & place of the oath,. So you can schedule things accordingly. You will have plenty of time.

2. Canadian Passport literally the next day after your Oath, you can apply for it. They will have it updated in their data base that you are a Canadian citizen now.

You can get a Canadian Passport in less than 48 hrs on an urgent pick up basis if you want, by paying extra, if you can prove the urgency with plane tickets etc.

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadian-passports/urgent-emergency-passport.html

3. Even Indian Visa you can get in less than 48 hrs by paying extra. They also have Visa on arrival & E-Visa now.

Of course all this is on an urgent basis. Otherwise you can always wait for the normal 10 business days for the Canadian Passport & 7 business days for the Indian Visa.


A. But whatever you do , do not travel on an Indian passport to India or anywhere else after you get your Canadian citizenship.

B. Do not forget to cancel your Indian passport. obtain a Surrender certificate & renounce your Indian citizenship after you get your Canadian citizenship. Try to do this ASAP after you acquire your Canadian citizenship.

Most Indians take this last step casually in the euphoria of getting PHOREN citizenship & PHOREN passport & pay a heavy penalty for it later on. Don't have a CHALTAA hain attitude in this case.

And keep the cancelled Indian passport & Surrender certificate with you for the rest of your life. Do not throw the passport away. Every time you need a VISA or OCI or any consular services with the Indian embassy or its third party outsourced private offices like BLS , VFS you will need the Surrender certificate & cancelled Indian passport.

Thank you for the information 🙏

Where can we surrender the Indian passport once we
get Canadian Citizenship?

Thank you

^^^

The same BLS centre , where you apply for Indian VISA , Indian OCI etc. You can do it by post, but physical in person is better. If you are in GTA, they have an office in Toronto & Brampton.

Also most major Canadian cities have at least 1 BLS office.

BLS is a third party Outsourced agency ( BPO ), which handles all Visa processing, OCI, Cancellation of passport etc etc for the Indian embassy & Indian consulate in Canada.

Basically an agent & middleman, officially appointed by the lazy people in the Indian government/embassy to do the paper work for them. BLS just acts as a postman & courier between you & the Indian embassy/consulate in Canada.


General Information - Surrender of Nationality :

The Indian Citizenship Act, 1955, does not allow dual citizenship. It is a punishable offence under the Indian Passport Act, 1967, to apply for an Indian passport, continue to hold an Indian passport, get an Indian passport re-issued or travel on an Indian passport after acquiring foreign citizenship. Extant rules prescribe penalties for holding Indian passports by foreign nationals.

Under Indian law, Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs), who have acquired foreign citizenship are required to surrender their Indian passports to the nearest Indian Mission/Post immediately after acquisition of foreign citizenship.
The salient features of the scheme are listed below:

Indian citizens acquiring any foreign citizenship on or after 1 June, 2010 must formally renounce Indian citizenship. This can be done by surrendering Indian passports for cancellation. The Indian passport would be cancelled and returned to the passport holder along with the requisite certificate for future reference. Applicants would be required to pay a onetime Renunciation Fee of Canadian $ 240 + $2 (Consular Surcharge) + BLS service fee C$ 7.40 (inclusive of applicable taxes) while surrendering their Indian passports.

Production of Surrender Certificate endorsement is essential while applying for Indian visa, PIO/OCI card or any other miscellaneous consular services, in case Canadian citizenship was acquired on or after 1 June, 2010.

Those who acquired foreign citizenship on 31 May, 2010 or earlier need not pay the Renunciation Fee. They must however get their Indian Passport, whether already expired or not, duly cancelled. Necessary entries in the records would be made by the Mission/Consulate and the Indian passport cancelled and returned to the applicant. Fee of C$ 26 + C$2 as Consular Surcharge + BLS Service fee C$ 7.40 (inclusive of applicable taxes) is charged in such cases.
Persons of Indian Origins who had earlier obtained OCI / PIO Cards or Visa without surrendering their Indian passports are required to surrender their last held Indian passport and obtain surrender certificates at the time of renewing their OCI / PIO Cards or for obtaining fresh visa.

The Mission/Consulate would levy penalty if the Indian passport has not been cancelled for more than 3 years, or if it was utilized to visit India or any other consular service was obtained after acquiring foreign nationality. The penalty would be in addition to the Renunciation Fee. Following are the provisions relating to penalty:

1. 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 December, 2004 - no penalty
b) If your passport expired on or after 1 January, 2005 - C$ 343
(Note: Retention Penalty (C$343) is different from Renunciation Fee (C$ 240). The latter needs to be paid by those who acquire foreign nationality on or after 1 June, 2010.)
2. Penalty for travelling on Indian Passport after acquiring Canadian citizenship is C$ 343 for each time, subject to a maximum of C$ 1711
3. Penalty for getting Indian Passport renewed or re-issued after acquiring Canadian citizenship is C$ 856 for each such renewal or reissue.
4. Penalty for obtaining any miscellaneous passport service (name change, etc.) on Indian Passport after acquiring Canadian citizenship is C$ 343 for each such service.

Procedure for obtaining Surrender Certificate/Renunciation Certificate

The applicant would need to submit the following:

Duly filled-in application form.
Original Indian passport with one copy.
Copy of the Canadian Citizenship certificate.
Copy of Canadian passport, if held.
Copy of Record of Landing

Applicable Fees.

In addition to the prescribed fee, an applicant would be required to pay C$ 2.00 on account of Consular Surcharge + BLS service fee of C$ 7.40 (inclusive of applicable taxes.)

In case the application is sent by post/mail, the same should be forwarded to the Brampton/Surrey/Ottawa Center of BLS International as per your Jurisdiction and must include the prescribed fee plus BLS charges and courier fees, for return of documents.

CLARIFICATIONS

Surrender Certificate cannot be issued if the last held Indian passport is not physically produced.

Penalty, if applicable, cannot be waived or reduced.

There is no penalty in cases where the PIO opted for foreign nationality before 1.1.2005 and the last held Indian passport also expired before that date.
There is a grace period of three months after acquisition of foreign nationality (to be counted from the date of registration / Naturalisation Certificate and not from the date of foreign passport) for using Indian passport for travel.