The High Commission of India in Ottawa

High Commission of India, Ottawa, Canada

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:

* 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.  The Indian passports would be cancelled and returned to the passport holder along with the Surrender Certificate for future reference.

* Indian citizenship must be formally renounced as soon as possible after acquiring foreign citizenship.

* 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.

* 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; police report of lost passport, if lodged; photocopy of the Passport, if available; the passport number and date of issue/expiry, if available; must be provided, along with proof in support of the fact that you held an Indian Passport in the past. One such proof can be the “Record of Landing” issued by the Citizenship and Immigration (CIC) Canada on your arrival in Canada. Please see a sample by clicking here. If this has also been lost, you can get a duplicate issued by the CIC by making an application to them.

* If the Indian passport has not been cancelled for more than 3 years, or if it had been utilized to visit India, or any other consular service was obtained after acquiring foreign nationality, a PENALTY would be charged. The penalty would be in addition to the Renunciation Fee. Broadly speaking, following are the provisions relating to penalty:

         (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 fact that the Passport had expired in less than 3 years after 1 Jan 2005.

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.

* 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.

* It is essential to keep the Surrender Certificate endorsement very carefully as that will be required while approaching the Indian High Commission in future.

* 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.

* We encourage you to read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) by clicking here.

Procedure for obtaining Surrender Certificate/Renunciation Certificate:

Please note that we have outsourced this service to our outsourcing agents, VFS Global. You are required to contact them directly for depositing your forms and fees. All your queries may also be directed to their staff. Their office addresses, timings, phone numbers and e-mail address can be found by clicking here. In addition to the fee and penalties, if any, applicable to your case, you will also be required to pay processing fee to VFS Global. Please consult them about the total cost and the exact procedure for remitting the fee.

You will need to submit following documents to obtain Surrender Certificate/Renunciation Certificate:

* Duly filled in form. Click here for the form.

* Original Indian passport with one copy. (This is not required if you are applying for Renunciation Certificate or Deemed Surrender Certificate. Please see the Frequently Asked Questions by clicking here. )

* Copy of the Canadian Citizenship certificate. To see a specimen, click here.

* Copy of Canadian passport, if held.

 Please do read the General Instructions for our Consular Services 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.