119. Renunciation Fee for NRI -

Surrender old Indian Passport

Question: Dear Mr. Chand, I recently visited Indian consulate site and saw a lot of article about surrender certificate and renunciation of Indian citizenship. I and my wife became US citizen many years ago. It is highly unfair of Indian government to put such heavy fines on people who did not surrender passports after foreign citizen ship. When NRI dollars are needed, there is no mention of this. Now, putting heavy fines on those of us who acquired US citizenship a while back is just another gimmick by Indian govt to get more money. Anyway, that is something to be very mad about. But my question is: I am traveling to India on a multiple entry visa acquired a few years back. Would you know if there would be any problem at the airport both ways since I don't have a surrender certificate? I will appreciate any info since Indian consulate is not quite straight in answering certain questions. Thanks. Sincerely, NMishra Answer: I can't see why Nri's visiting India with a valid Indian visa should have problems at Indian airports. From what I can understand on this issue is that in order to avail consular services of any kind, foreign passport holders of Indian origin will have to provide proof of cancellation of old Indian passport. As for renunciation fee, according to a new release posted on the Vancouver, Canada Indian Consulate website: ‘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 canceled. A fee of C$20 is charged for this service.’