Indian Samurai इंडियन सामुराई

1.     First step: a visa

 You need to get a 'new visa' done at the FRRO for which you need:

·         Form filled online here http://indianfrro.gov.in/frro/ and printed out

·         Letter issued by the consulate

·         1 copy of marriage certificate

·         1 copy of baby and parents’ passports

·         1 copy of foreign parent's visa / PIO / OCI

·         1 copy of baby's Indian birth certificate

·         1 copy of residence proof

·         1 copy of the 2 forms in pages 3 & 4 of this document (it is not mentioned anywhere but I gave it and they filed it so I guess it is meant to be included - nice to notice that it has to be signed by

·         both parents, so don't forget in case only one parent makes it to the FRRO)

·         2 photos 3.5 x 4.5 cm with white background

·         Cash to pay the visa fee (4 800 rupees for 6 months for a French national)

NB: The visa will be valid from the date of passport issue and then it will take 3 months to get the OCI. You may want to take this into consideration to apply for a 6 month or 1 year visa!

It is said that you will pay a fine if you don’t process the visa within 2 weeks of receiving the passport. This didn’t happen to me, though I was almost 2 months late.

When to go: You need to go to the FRRO on the day you get an appointment (which you get once you have filled the form and uploaded the documents online).

Baby has to be there as his pic will be clicked.

Timing: Submissions are from 9:30 to 12 AM. The same day (either right away if the officer is there or at 3 PM) you will get the visa and registration!

 

2.     2^nd step: the OCI (Overseas Citizen of India)

After that you need to apply for OCI (there is no more PIO) at the FRRO. This is lifelong and doesn’t require registration. As the spouse of an Indian national you can also apply, after completing 2 years of marriage.

For which you need to bring:

·         2 print outs of the form filled online here http://www.mha.nic.in/ (you can do it before getting the baby’s visa) – the baby has to ‘sign’ it, by putting his thumb print in the cell below the picture (left thumb for a boy, right thumb for a girl)

·         2 copies of baby's birth certificate (the Indian one if born in India or the foreign one with official English translation if born outside)

·         2 copies of marriage certificate self-attested

·         2 copies of baby's passport, visa and registration

·         2 copies of parents' passports self-attested

·         2 copies of foreign parent's visa / PIO / OCI self-attested

·         2 copies of residence proof self-attested

·         2 photos 5.1x5.1 cm with light blue background

·         Demand draft of 15 000 rs payable at ‘Pay and accounts (Secretariat) Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi’

When to go: You go to the FRRO, straight to the PIO / OCI section, without appointment.

Baby doesn't need to be here provided he has signed the form!

Timing: Submissions are from 9:30 AM to 1 PM.

After that there will be police verification at your place within 2 weeks. And then the OCI process will take around 3 months.

You keep the passport with you so you can travel with the visa given prior to the OCI application! 

 

If you go early for the visa and the officer is there to sign it, you can immediately apply for OCI and avoid a second trip! If not, you may try and apply in the afternoon - they are open though it says they don't take submissions! 

I had a moment of solitude at the Consulate the other day...

For the preparation of my child's passport, I was asked (by mail) to "communicate the size and color of the eyes of the child”. I was flabbergasted... The size of the eyes??? But since I had heard that the eye is the only organ of the body that does not grow after birth (a urban legend* by the way), I thought “well, it’s possible that they are indeed asking for the size of the eyes”. I therefore answered the said mail asking how exactly the size of the eye can be measured. And I was answered "for the size, you must measure it and tell me how many cm it is”. Great help!!

 I therefore went to the Consulate without the required information. Without fail, my interlocutor got offended that I had not followed his instructions. When I asked, face-to-face this time around, how the size of the eye can be measured, he told me to use a ruler! I then asked to borrow his and undertook to measure the eye of the baby. He nearly fell backwards: "not the eye, the size of the child!" 

“Ah! Easy! 48 cm!” 

"Ah no, it won’t do. The system doesn’t accept below 50 cm..." 

 

* "For a normal child born at term, the maturation of the eyeballs is almost reached at the end of the first two years, that of the Central retinas at the end of the fourth year; the maturation of the myelin of the conduction pathways ends at the end of the first decade." Source: http://lodel.irevues.inist.fr/oeiletphysiologiedelavision/index.php?id=134