Q.827 Return to Canada after 5

year stay in India with new

passport . . .

Question: Respected Sir/Madam,

Greetings, Actually i am Canadian citizen as well as OCI holder. Due to my family issue i am staying in India around 5 years based on my OCI status. Meantime i have renewed my Canada passport @ Delhi. so new canada passport is valid also. Currently my family situation is normal and i want to go back to Canada near 2016 Jan month. Before departure i want to prepare my self. so please update to me for the further formalities for the travel with out any issue in India/Canada Immigration. I greatly appreciate your assistance with this matter and eagerly waiting for your kind reply. Thanks & Regards K. Nagarajan [November 23 2015] Answer: The only thing that I can think of is that when you leave India, at the point of departure, Indian immigration officers will want to see the entry stamp on your passport. This is to ensure that you had entered India legally. Since you have a new Canadian passport issued to you in Delhi, it will not show your arrival stamp when you entered India. Hence you should take the passport that has the entry stamp on it, along with your new valid passport when leaving India. In case you have lost your passport that shows the arrival stamp, contact the FRRO, as you may need an exit visa. Since you are a Canadian citizen, you should not have problems entering Canada. While PR card holders in Canada are required to live in Canada for at least two years in a five year period, Canadian citizens have no such restriction.