I read in the Berlin Embassy website that the rule for the OCI card has changed, where we have to surrender the Indian passport in original.
Please visit the following link

http://www.indianembassy.de/template.php?mnid=801&sm=1&inclpage=oci.inc

Does this mean that all Indian citizens planning to take up a German citizenship will be requested to cancel their indian citizenship and obtain an affidavit from the Indian consulate?

Or how will this be handled hereafter while collecting the EB Urkunde?
If we return the Indian passport to the EBamt,we will have no original passport to show the Indian consulate for the OCI application.

Quite confusing!!!!! Can someone throw some light on the same.

Chandra

This rule is not only for new OCI applicants but also for all those who had 'Indian passports' in the past and taken up other country citizenship then. Even if you have already taken the OCI/PIO card/Indian visas you need to get this certificate now!!!!
I just got my German passports and going to apply for the OCI now. But saw this new rule of obtaining the surrender certificate for surrendering the Indian passports and also for already surrendered passports (like in Germany we give the old passports to EBamt).
In USA already they started issuing these certificates and they charge 175Dollars!!!! for each applicant. check http://indiacgny.org/
Even if you have taken the citizenship before 30,40 years you need to take this certificate to avail further consular services and further travel to India.
In Germany, only Berlin embassy has this info in their website but no further details how to get this certificate & cost. Other embassy sites in Germany doesn't have this info.
Now I am in confusion if I need to get this certificate to get the OCI card from CGI munich or may be latter I need this certificate anyway when all embassies have this rule.
If proof needed that we have already surrendered the passport to EBamt, how & what doc we need to get from the EBamt to get this certificate.

Regards,
Sek123

Hi sek,
Thanks for the info.
Though I can understand the rationale behind this new law (prevent people from misusing their Old Indian Passports in countries where the passport has to be surrendered on their own by the respective applicants), I fail to understand why is the same law applied to all countries.
In Germany the EBamt ensures that no one hold their old passport after getting a German Passport.
In this case the law is totally unfair and the price they charge is exhorbitant.
175 euros for the renunciation certificate for every individual ist "Wahnsinn" und "Vollig Nonsens".

The other joke is this certificate has to be obtained by every individual who has renounced his Indian citizenship till now. Will this mean that
the Indian government will bring in new laws like this every 5 years to extract money.

So every individual of Indian origin planning to naturalize should consider 240 + 160 euros = 400 euros extra per family member.

2000 Euros for a 4 member family + 620 for the German citizenship.

I just want to be sure that I understand the new rule correctly. When I got my German passport I had to surrender my Indian passport. I then applied for OCI which is valid for 15 years or so (I have to confirm this).

Surrendering the Indian passport is NOT an option, that is the only way to get the German passport.

Why do I need to get a certificate for this?

And if I already have my OCI, is there something I have to do?

Thanks
I

@Sek

Do not create unnecessary panic and provide wrong Information. PIO card holders are completely different from OCI.

The website clearly states 'For POI who have already got their passports cancelled after acquiring foreign citizenship, no further action is required.'

So please do take time to read and understand till the end before you publish irrelevant/incorrrect information.

Meanwhile, i do not think it is only India who has this procedure. There are 100's of countries who have the same regulations and India is far better to provide this immediately with a fee where as some countries take 2-3 years processing time.

Meanwhile, 2000 euro fee for a family is not mandatory if you decide to keep your indian passport. Indian government does not compel any one to naturalize in Germany/US or in Somalia!!

Unless you give something!! you dont have the right to take!!

Best Regards and Happy weekend