Dear Friends,

i will be applying for OCI card next week. on the mha and the consular websites the size of the photo is given as 51*51 ..

in one thread on trust7 i saw that the 51*51 did not fit correctly on the application form and so the poster had to argue a bit with the embassy employees ..

i am anyway going to get the 51*51 as per the mha website but am interested to know your experiences and suggestions. thank you.

BestRegards
Sridhar

@ Sridhar,

When I applied for OCI, I used the pictures we took for German ID and Passport. Though the dimensions for these documents are different, the pictures were accepted without any hassle at Frankfurt. I hope this helps.

ah..great..thank you Rohith..good that i can reuse the photos ..

In Frankfurt HBF , Underground there is a photo shop and they know the exact dimensions and picture format for OCI.

the real size is 51x51 which is almost same like the american visa 50x50.

Go to Foto Flash next to Poccistraße KVR in Munich. They charge 10 euros for all types of fotos

today submitted my oci application at the indian embassy , Frankfurt.A.M.

even though i trusted rohith i didnt want to take any chances so took along with me the 51*51..which they accepted without any issues.

i asked the person handling the application whether the german biometric photos(35*45) would be accepted as well. she said no and pointed me to a neat piece of paper attached to the glass window that says 51*51 and i said ok ..fine:-)

just posting this experience here that embassy people like always can be unpredictable so better to stick to 51*51..

the other thing i was not prepared for was i had to additionally fill a paper to renounce my indian citizenship and for this i was charged 115 euros. apart from the 240 euros for the oci application. i couldnt find this fee info on the frankfurt indian embassy's webpage or the berlin indian embassy's webpage.does someone know about this?

bestregards
Sridhar

ok..found this info in the washington dc indian consular website.

http://www.indianembassy.org/oci.php

so the web pages of the indian embassies in germany might have not been updated or i missed it even though i looked twice at these websites.

The 115 Euros being charged for 'surrendering' your Indian citizenship is a new way to suck money one last time They cite that they want to prevent misuse of Indian passports by ex-Indian citizens.In Germany, however, the passports are confiscated by the German authorities before issuing you the Einbürgerungsurkunde.

If you read the surrender certificate, it is cheap piece of paper saying that you surrender the indian citizenship - a citizenship which you actually dont have any more because according to the 1955 citizenship act of india, you lose your Indian citizenship once you acquire a foreign one.

I fought against it and even wrote to the Minister of Overseas Affairs and several secretaries there and the PMO but noone even replied.

This convinced me even more that I took the right step to give up my Indian citizenship.

Sridhar - I would urge you to atleast write to MOIA and Indian Embassy in Germany to express your displeasure on this. Maybe it will help if several people do it - for the future.

yes..i will write to them.

@supersid,

if you already have the copy of your complaint letter , can you send to me . i mean if you already framed it in such a way referencing whatever law , article numbers etc..so i can avoid the google search. if not just ignore this message. i will frame something.

i have just now sent this complaint/question through the mha website..though i know that this will never be seen by anybody at mha..may be i will try the embassy,right to information etc channels as well..

Hello ,

Subject: Indian government charging 115 euros for citizenship surrender certificate even
when the person automatically lost his citizenship as per citizenship act 1955 section

9(1)


according to Citizenship Act, 1955 section 9 (1) a person ceases to be a citizen of india

consequent upon voluntarily acquiring the citizenship of another country.

source: Ministry of home affairs
http://www.mha.nic.in/citizenship/acquire1.htm

question 1:
Germany takes the indian passport and then gives the german passport.
so every eligible indian citizen in germany is surrendering his indian passport at the relevant

german office and then is getting the german passport. so according to section 9 above the

concerned indian citizen is immediately losing his indian citizenship.so why do the person

again have to file a citizenship renunciation application and pay 115 euros?

BestRegards

See my efforts till now and the answer from the dear Indian embassy.
---------------
My email:

Dear Mr. Vayalar, Dear Mr. Sharma, Ladies & Gentlemen,

After recieving the information from Indian authorities in Germany that this is an instruction from the Indian Government, I would like toapproach you on the following issue under the right to information act. I was an Indian citizen and accepted the German citizenship by naturalization on xx.xx.2010. On this particular day my Indian passport was confiscated by the Interior Ministry of the State of Bavaria, Germany and I ceased to be a citizen of India.

Now I would like to apply for the OCI card and am asked to get a Surrender Certificate for my Indian citizenship in order to get the OCI card. This simple process is connected with a fee of 115 Euros which is definitely not ok because of the following reason:

1. According to the citizenship act of 1955, an Indian citizen who accepts a foreign citizenship by naturalization ceases to be an Indian citizen. The form XXII available under http://cgimunich.de/download/renunciation-of-citizenship.pdf clearly says ''DECLARATION OF RENUNCIATION OF CITIZENSHIP UNDER SECTION 8 OF THE ACT MADE BY A CITIZEN OF INDIA WHO IS ALSO A CITIZEN OR NATIONAL OF ANOTHER COUNTRY''

At the time of filling this form, I am not an Indian citizen anymore but rather a German citizen. How is it then possible that a German citizen renounces the Indian citizenship ? Therefore, this form doesnot apply to me as I am not a citizen of India.

2. Looking at the logic of people cheating by still keeping the Indian passport even after acquiring a foreign citizenship, this logic doesnt apply in Germany because the German authorities only issue a citizenship certificate upon confiscating the Indian passport.

3. Additionally, if needed I can give it in writing that I am not an Indian citizen any more and also get an official document from the State Government that my Indian passport has been confiscated.

Then why am I being asked to fill up this specific form and being charged such a big amount ? Summarizing it, I look at this rule as a way of making money from people of Indian origin settled in foreign countries. I would request you to clarify this at the earliest as not only me but rather several Indians are being affected by this new rule.

With Best Regards,
X
-----------------------
Answer from Indian Embassy:

Dear Mr. X,

Please refer to your email message dated 15th November 2010 on the above subject. The observations/queries mentioned in para 1, 2 & 3 of your mail are not covered under RTI Act, which deals with supplying of information available in public records. Further, the facility of seeking information under the RTI Act is available only to Indian citizens.

Your are advised to take up your doubts about the procedure for getting OCI card clarified by contacting the officials concered in the Consulate General of India, Munich.

With warm regards,

Indian Embassy
Tiergartenstr. 17, 10785 Berlin, Germany
Tel: 0049-30-25795402
Fax: 0049-30-25795410
Email: office.culture@indianembassy.de
Internet: www.indianembassy.de
--------------------

My reply:

Dear Mr. Y,

Thank you for your prompt email. I have approached the Indian consulate who have always been very supportive and have been told that the instruction is from Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs to ask ex-Indian citizens to surrender the Indian citizenship (again).

Now if the Right to Information Act is not available to me because I am not an Indian citizen, then how am I being asked to surrender a citizenship (in this case the Indian Citizenship) which I actually dont have ? Why am I being asked to sign a document which I am actually not supposed to sign as a German citizen ?


Best Regards,
X

You need to bombard:

Saravanan <office.culture@indianembassy.de>, usoci-mha@nic.in, so-oci@mha.gov.in, consular@indianembassy.de, fsinfo@indianembassy.de, dir_immigration@nic.in, vayalar@sansad.nic.in, dcm@indianembassy.de, info@moia.nic.in, minister@moia.nic.in, secretary@moia.nic.in, jsfs@moia.nic.in, jsds@moia.nic.in, dsds@moia.nic.in

excellent communication. the problem is the incompetent idiots who frame these rules without taking into consideration the merits and de-merits before approving it.In the end they are not accountable, they happily sign the documents and enjoy for the rest of the day without even stepping into the office.most probably all these crappy old generation government thugs will disappear from the earth in a few years or a decade and then hoping the current young generation will bring bit more responsible behaviour into their government jobs.

@supersid and xsridhar, Finally Did you guys avoid paying money €115,00 for cancellation of Indian Passport or not ?

What I dislike is the hyprcrisy of the situation.

If you just take up the German citizenship, you dont need a surrender certificate as the authorities just "confiscate" your passport and it is good enough for all.

However, should you want to apply for an OCI at any point in time, a surrender certificate, with all its related costs is mandatory.

Surrender certificate should either be for all or for none.