192. Surrender of old Indian

passport fees

Q. HI there, I acquired Canadian citizenship in April 2005. After that i have never been to India. And there was no mention of the need of returning the Indian passport. And my passport even expired in 2005 which is why i never thought of returning it anyways. I thought it was expired and of no use to return or to keep. Now after 5 years, i am hearing all different things about the surrendering fees. First of all, there was no clear information about how much the fees is going to be. I called the information line and the personnel suggested me to surrender the passport in November. Now in November, the Indian consulate employees are saying that if i had done it before November, they would not have charged me any fine. I am really upset about this as i am a full time university student and can not pay that much fine. Please help me. Your employees here in Canada are no help as all they say is "We didn't make this rule" . Is there any help for students as what my financial situation does not allow me to pay that much fine. I have not misused my passport or anything. I am writing this with a great hope. Please help. Thanks. Best Regards, Ravinder Minhas A. For some reason you have my website confused with a government website. Please be aware that this website is not in any way connected to the government of India. Indian consulate employees who tell you they did not make this rule are also correct as rules are made by the Government of India and consulates must abide by the law. The passport surrender certificate fee was revised by the government of India. Since you got your foreign citizenship in 2005 your fee for getting a surrender certificate should only be $20. Fine would be applicable only if you have used your Indian passport to travel after acquiring Canadian citizenship.