• April 3, 2019

OCI card should be renewed each time you change your passport, says High Commission and VFS

By Balagopal Kent

LONDON April 3: The OCI card will have to be linked to the current passport at all times to avoid immigration hassles and travel delays, the Indian High Commission London responded to a question www.ukmalayalee.com sent to them.

Although there is still contradicting information made available on the websites, this news has come about to clear some doubts lingering within the Non Resident Indians all over the world and its hoped that the official websites, of Indian High Commission and VFS Global will be updated and made consistent in the near future.
The reply from the Indian High Commission to www.ukmalayalee.com said: “As long as your OCI card features your current passport number on it, you should be able to travel to India without a renewal.
However, please ensure your current facial features match the photograph on the OCI card, as it will entirely be the prerogative of the Customs officials to approve entry at the Immigration check point.
“The OCI status is lifelong however the OCI card will have to updated as and when you receive a new passport to feature the current passport number on it”, the note sent to this website said.
In an email to VFS Global too a response was received to state that the OCI card must be transferred to the new passport every time even for people above 50.
However, the VFS website say that for above 50’s, the OCI needs to be transferred only ONCE when their email says that it’s mandatory to do the transfer everytime the passport is renewed.
Although the websites provide wrong information, the response received from both the Indian High Commission and VFS Global say that OCI card should be renewed each time the passport is renewed.
This website has written to both the Indian High Commission and VFS Global asking them to update the website and its hoped that this will be changed to reflect what information they provide the community when being contacted.

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