Surrender Indian Citizenship

Requirements

General Information

MAIN PROVISIONS FOR SURRENDER OF INDIAN PASSPORT / RENUNCIATION OF INDIAN CITIZENSHIP:

Under Indian law, Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs), who have acquired foreign citizenship, are required to surrender their Indian passports to the nearest Indian Mission/Post immediately after acquisition of foreign citizenship.

In view of these provisions, PIOs, intending to apply for OCI/PIO Cards and Visa, should surrender their Indian passports, obtain Surrender Certificates and then apply for these services. This would also be applicable to the PIOs who seek to renew their OCI/PIO Cards or seek fresh Visa.

The Surrender Certificate, once obtained, should be produced henceforth for any services from the High Commission and copy of the Surrender Certificate should be enclosed with any application in future.

PIOs, who have already acquired foreign citizenship on or before 1.6.2010, are now required to pay RM 76.00 towards Miscellaneous service charge plus applicable charges including Consular Surcharge of RM 9.00 and would not be required to pay any fee under Citizenship Act for surrendering their passports whether valid or expired. There could however be penalty charges on Passports expiring on or after 01.01.2005 for retention, renewal and travel.

PIOs who acquired foreign citizenship on or after 01.06.2010 will have to pay RM 511.00 plus applicable charges including Consular Surcharge of RM 9.00 along with a declaration of renunciation of their Indian Citizenship.

The Indian Citizenship Act, 1955, does not allow dual citizenship. Holding Indian passport/acquiring Indian passport/travelling on Indian passport after acquisition of foreign citizenship constitutes an offence under the Indian Passport Act, 1967, and attracts penalties. The Government of India has prescribed imposition of penalty on a graded scale for the violation of Passport Rules, depending on number of trips made on Indian passport after acquiring foreign nationality (with a three month grace period from the date of acquiring foreign nationality i.e. the date of certificate of citizenship), renewal of Indian passport after acquiring foreign nationality and retention of Indian Passport for more than 3 years after acquiring of foreign nationality. The date on the Certificate of citizenship will be treated as date of acquiring foreign nationality and hence, it is mandatory for the applicants to produce his / her Certificate of citizenship for obtaining Surrender Certificate.

Provisions on declaration of Renunciation / Surrender Certificate under different scenario:-

1. PIOs, who acquired foreign nationality on or before 31.05.2010 and produced last held Indian passport, will be issued 'Surrender Certificate' on payment of miscellaneous service fee of RM 76.00 plus applicable charges including Consular Surcharge (RM 9.00) and applicable charges for M/s BLS. Penalty for misuse of Indian passport would be imposed if the last held Indian passport expired on or after 1.1.2005 and it is retained beyond three years i.e. not surrendered or the PIO travelled on this passport beyond the grace period of three months or the validity of the last held Indian passport was renewed after acquiring foreign nationality or any miscellaneous service was obtained;

2. PIOs, who acquired foreign nationality on or before 1.06.2010 but do not produce Indian passport, will not be issued Surrender Certificate;

3. PIOs, who acquired foreign nationality on or after 01.06.2010 and produced Indian passport, will be issued Surrender Certificate on payment of Renunciation fee of RM 511.00 plus applicable charges including Consular Surcharge of RM 8.00 and applicable charges for M/s BLS. Penalty for misuse of Indian passport would be imposed if the last held Indian passport expired on or after 1.1.2005 and it is retained beyond three years i.e. not surrendered or the PIO travelled on this passport beyond the grace period of three months or the validity of the last held Indian passport was renewed after acquiring foreign nationality or any miscellaneous service obtained;

4. PIOs, who acquired foreign nationality on or after 01.06.2010 but fail to produce Indian passport and only furnish a copy thereof, claiming to have misplaced/lost the Indian passport, will be issued 'Renunciation Declaration'*** with remarks that original Indian passport not surrendered. A fee of RM 511.00 plus application charges including Consular Surcharge of RM 9.00 and applicable charges for M/s BLS will be collected. The applicant will be additionally required to furnish a duly Notarised Affidavit in this regard and a Police report (to rule out any misuse);

5. For a child born outside India, who held Indian passport although entitled to foreign nationality but now opts for surrendering the Indian passport, the Renunciation fee will be RM 511.00 plus applicable charges including Consular Surcharge of RM 9.00 and applicable charges for M/s BLS . Penalty for misuse of Indian passport would be imposed if the last held Indian passport expired on or after 1.1.2005 and it is retained beyond three years i.e. not surrendered or the applicant travelled on this passport beyond the grace period of three months or the validity of the last held Indian passport was renewed or any miscellaneous service obtained after acquiring foreign nationality.

***RENUNCIATION DECLARATION:-

For PIOs, who acquired foreign nationality on or after 01.06.2010 and their valid Indian passport has been misplaced or lost, can apply for 'Renunciation Declaration' by furnishing a copy of the Indian passport along with a duly Notarised Affidavit in this regard and a Police report (to rule out any misuse). The fee for Renunciation Certificate is RM 511.00 plus applicable charges including Consular Surcharge of rm 8.00 and applicable charges for M/s BLS.

CLARIFICATIONS

1. Surrender Certificate cannot be issued if the last held Indian passport is not physically produced. Penalty if applicable cannot be waived or reduced.

2. There is no penalty in cases where the PIO opted for foreign nationality before 1.1.2005 and the last held Indian passport also expired before that date.

3. There is a grace period of three months after acquisition of foreign nationality (to be counted from the date of certificate of citizenship/registration/Naturalisation Certificate and not from the date of issue of foreign passport) for using Indian passport for travel.

4. PIOs who had earlier obtained OCI / PIO Cards or Visa without surrendering their Indian passports are required to surrender their last held Indian passport and obtain surrender certificates at the time of renewing their OCI / PIO Cards or for obtaining fresh visa.

In certain cases details of the Indian passport are required to be confirmed by the Original Passport Issuing Authority in India. This may require more processing time in issuing of requisite certificates by the High Commission. Issue of certificates is subject to providing all requisite documents and meeting all the conditions of eligibility.

Note: Amount of penalties if leviable will be determined by HCI Kuala Lumpur post processing of individual applications.

Documents Required

No hand written forms will be accepted

• Duly Filled Online Application Form, Affidavit, Sworn affidavit and Statutory Declaration (need stamping by commission for oath)
• Original and photocopy of Citizenship Certificate
• Original and photocopy of Malaysian Passport
• Original and photocopy of Malaysian IC
• Two coloured Passport size Photograph with a white colour background
• Fee for each RM 530. 23 if Foreign Citizenship after June 2010
• Fee for each RM 131. 23 if Foreign Citizenship before 31/05/2010

Note: Please take note that endorsement of Ministry of External Affairs on Marriage Certificate is not required if Spouse name already endorsed in one of the spouse passport.

Photo Specification

To avoid any incorrectness in photographs, we recommend you to take the photograph service at our centre at a nominal price.

• Change in Photo Specification
• The photograph must be in color.
• It should be without border.
• It should have a white or light colored background only so that features are distinguishable and in contrast against the background. It should have a close up of your head and top of your shoulders so that your face takes up 70-80% of the photograph.
• It should be in sharp focus and clear.
• It should be of high quality with no ink marks and creases.
• The photograph must show you looking directly at the camera.
• It should be 5 cm X 5 cm. It should show your skin tone naturally.
• It should have appropriate brightness and contrast.
• The photograph should be a recent one not more than 3 months old.
• Photograph can be taken with headgear, The main characteristics of the face must be apparent from the photograph. Chin, nose, eyes and eyebrows must not be covered; the forehead should be uncovered to the extent that the shape of the face is apparent.
• It should be without hat/cap.
• It should be without the applicant's hair tucked behind his/her ears.
• The photograph must show facing square on to the camera, not looking over the shoulder or tilted, and showing both edges of the face clearly.
• It should be taken with uniform lighting and not show shadows or flash reflections on the face and no red eye.
• If wearing glasses the photograph must show the eyes clearly with no flash reflection off the glasses and no tinted lenses (if possible, avoid heavy frames – lighter framed glasses to be worn). Make sure the frame does not cover any part of the eye.
• The photograph must only be visible of applicant (no toys, chair, etc.) looking at the camera with a neutral expression and mouth closed.
• The photograph should not have any staple marks. Scanned & color photocopies will not be accepted.

Processing Fee

Please note that the fees / processing charge are non-refundable and non-transferable

The fee can only be paid in cash.

Application Fees :

S.no	Particulars	Passport fee(RM)	ICWF(RM)	BLS Fee(RM)	Total fee
1.	Misc. Service fee forsurrender of passport/renunciation of citizenship for applicants who acquired foreign citizenship on or before 31.5.2010	95	9	9.5	113.5
2.	Fee for surrender of passport/ renunciation of Citizenship for applicants who acquire foreign citizenship on or after 1.6.2010	395	9	9.5	413.5

An additional fee of RM 9.00 per application would be collected as 'Consular Surcharge' from all applicants for each individual service.

The M/s BLS have been authorised to charge a service fee of RM 9.50 per application over and above the normal fee for surrender of Indian Passport / renunciation of Indian citizenship. Postal/Bank/agency charges, wherever applicable, will be additional, to be borne by the applicant.

Processing Time

Please be advised that the estimated processing times are mentioned below. However, the time taken to process an application also depends on the following factors such as; the city in which application was submitted, the city / country where the previous / old passport was issued, your current visa status, etc. The estimated processing time mentioned below does not include the time that the courier company will take to deliver the passport. Please keep in mind that incomplete applications will lead to a delay in the processing of an application, and all applicant(s) are requested to comply with any changes that may occur during this time.

You are requested to make your travel arrangements only after receiving relevant service. BLS/HCI will not be liable for any claims of inconvenience/ penalties, applicant need to make changes in their travel plans owing to the delays and/or any inconvenience caused due to any rejections.

Processing times mentioned do not include transit time by courier from the Collection Centre. Incomplete applications will lead to an increase in processing time and applicants will need to comply with any changes in the procedure that may occur during this time. BLS/HCI would not be responsible for any inconvenience/problems faced due to any rejections or delays.

The processing time for Consular Service applications is one working day excluding the day of submission. Applicants can collect their documents on the third working day from the date of submission between 15:00 – 17:00hrs.

 

Forms

No hand written forms will be accepted

You must submit an application for a passport with the relevant documentation and prescribed fee as listed on the application form, the application form can also be accessed by clicking here or download the same by clicking on the relevant form name given below.


Statutory Declaration
Sworn Affidavit
Surrender Form 2
EAP 2 Form

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