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Many non-resident Indians (NRIs) say
they are facing problems because of the formalities they now have
to face while surrendering their Indian passports to acquire US
citizenship.
"It is mind boggling how much paperwork they have added for
someone born in India to revisit India," lamented NRI Padma Golla
from Houston, US. She was among scores of NRIs reacting to the
IANS report about India lowering the fee for surrender of Indian
passports in early July.
Rules regarding surrender of Indian passports on attaining US
citizenship, introduced by India's Ministry of External Affairs in
May 2010, were relaxed from June 1, 2011, after strong pressure by
NRIs.
Indian consulates used to charge $175 as fee for the surrender of
old Indian passports and additional penalties for various
"violations". The fee has now been reduced to just $20.
"I am being put in a difficult situation where I can't get a visa
while my kid has one and I can't travel with my kid who just
needed an American passport with an application for a visa," Golla
added.
Many Indian consulates still have no idea about the announcement.
The consulates in countries other than the US are not sure if this
new ruling applied to NRIs with British and other passports. The
websites of many consulates show the higher, outdated fees.
Kawal Gupta from Toronto had a similar problem. He wrote: "I heard
on radio that the fees for surrender of Indian passport after
obtaining the citizenship of other country has been reduced to $20
but when I called VFS (visa processing office), they said they
have not heard of any such change and that I should submit my
forms with the fees of $175."
Till mid-July, the visa processing office insisted on charging a
higher fee from Kawal who has four passports to cancel, which
means paying about $700.
Sanjay Zala of Houston, Texas (US), who became a Canadian citizen
in 2006, said Trasvisa Outsourcing, which handles visa requests
from the United States, insists he pay a penalty of $250 because
he did not surrender his Indian passport within a year.
He made representations to the Indian ministry of external
affairs, ministry of overseas Indian affairs, senior officers and
the Indian consulate in the US, but to no avail.
In his letter to the ministry, he wrote, "By paying penalty and
Overseas Citizenship of India fees together, is the government of
India really interested to increase the interest of NRIs and their
investment in India?"
"And by imposing this penalty, is the government really doing a
favour to NRIs to visit India and obtain Overseas Citizenship of
India?" he asked.
"I have many thousands of names of the people who became foreign
nationals before 2005 and kept their valid Indian passports for
over three years. On renouncing their Indian citizenship, they did
not pay any penalty," Zala added.
"Why have the consular officers abroad not drawn any attention
about this to the ministry of external affairs? Why is there a
gross discrimination against those who became foreign nationals
after 2005 with valid Indian passports?" he asked.
Zala has not received any replies.
Tilak Sen and Raamprasad in Britain found it difficult to convince
the Indian consulates that British passport holders should also
pay the lower penalty.
Clarence Gomes from Mississauga, Canada, wrote that the previous
rule was that anyone who obtained citizenship before May 2010 had
to pay only $20 to obtain a surrender certificate but those who
obtained citizenship after May 2010 had to pay $175.
Gomes wrote, "There are many like me who obtained Canadian
citizenship in March 2011, does it mean that I have to still pay
$175 for the surrender of my Indian passport? If so, there is no
change in the policy as I understand it. We will appreciate if the
correct policy is confirmed as it is still not clear to many
Indians who have recently been granted citizenship of another
country."
Gomes sent letters to the local TV stations, newspapers and the
Indian consulate in Toronto and the ministries of external affairs
and overseas Indian affairs but with no response.
Kul Bhushan previously
worked abroad as a newspaper editor and has travelled to over 50
countries. He lives in New Delhi and can be contacted at: kul.b@ians.in
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