If you are in Kitchener then the Brampton - BLS office is the closest to you. Its in a shopping mall, lots of FREE parking available.

The good thing is that the Canada Passport office is also literally next door to it. So you can even apply for your Canadian passport on the same day & kill 2 birds with one stone

Make sure you follow the checklist to the T and fill up the form perfectly when you go there. Including the originals & photocopies as needed.

1. CHECKLIST FOR SURRENDER OF INDIAN PASSPORT

http://www.blsindia-canada.com/CanadaVisaCCT/BLS-CAN16Toronto-SurrenderorDeemed-Checklist-Rev4.1.pdf

2. APPLICATION FORM FOR THE SURRENDER OF INDIAN PASSPORT & RENUNCIATION OF INDIANCITIZENSHIP

http://www.blsindia-canada.com/forms/HCI-CGI_Surrender%20and%20Renunciation%20form.pdf

One mistake here & there or 1 minor document missing here and there, and they will send you back . They are notorious for that.

Also follow their timing. Anything to do with applying is usually in the morning & anything to do with the pick up of documents is in the after noon.

Submission of Application: 8:00 AM - 2:00PM (Monday - Saturday except designated holidays).

Passport pickup: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Monday - Saturday except designated holidays).

Brampton - BLS Office
20 Gillingham Drive,
Unit 701,
Brampton, ON L6X 5A5
Canada

Phone: +1-647-776-7970
Fax: +905-216-0921

Canada Passport office is next to the BLS Brampton office :

40 Gillingham Dr
Unit #401,
Brampton, ON L6X 4P8,
Canada

Quote:

---

Originally posted by MITRON

^^^

The same BLS centre , where you apply for Indian VISA , Indian OCI etc. You can do it by post, but physical in person is better. If you are in GTA, they have an office in Toronto & Brampton.

Also most major Canadian cities have at least 1 BLS office.

BLS is a third party Outsourced agency ( BPO ), which handles all Visa processing, OCI, Cancellation of passport etc etc for the Indian embassy & Indian consulate in Canada.

Basically an agent & middleman, officially appointed by the lazy people in the Indian government/embassy to do the paper work for them. BLS just acts as a postman & courier between you & the Indian embassy/consulate in Canada.


General Information - Surrender of Nationality :

The Indian Citizenship Act, 1955, does not allow dual citizenship. It is a punishable offence under the Indian Passport Act, 1967, to apply for an Indian passport, continue to hold an Indian passport, get an Indian passport re-issued or travel on an Indian passport after acquiring foreign citizenship. Extant rules prescribe penalties for holding Indian passports by foreign nationals.

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.
The salient features of the scheme are listed below:

Indian citizens acquiring any foreign citizenship on or after 1 June, 2010 must formally renounce Indian citizenship. This can be done by surrendering Indian passports for cancellation. The Indian passport would be cancelled and returned to the passport holder along with the requisite certificate for future reference. Applicants would be required to pay a onetime Renunciation Fee of Canadian $ 240 + $2 (Consular Surcharge) + BLS service fee C$ 7.40 (inclusive of applicable taxes) while surrendering their Indian passports.

Production of Surrender Certificate endorsement is essential while applying for Indian visa, PIO/OCI card or any other miscellaneous consular services, in case Canadian citizenship was acquired on or after 1 June, 2010.

Those who acquired foreign citizenship on 31 May, 2010 or earlier need not pay the Renunciation Fee. They must however get their Indian Passport, whether already expired or not, duly cancelled. Necessary entries in the records would be made by the Mission/Consulate and the Indian passport cancelled and returned to the applicant. Fee of C$ 26 + C$2 as Consular Surcharge + BLS Service fee C$ 7.40 (inclusive of applicable taxes) is charged in such cases.
Persons of Indian Origins 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.

The Mission/Consulate would levy penalty if the Indian passport has not been cancelled for more than 3 years, or if it was utilized to visit India or any other consular service was obtained after acquiring foreign nationality. The penalty would be in addition to the Renunciation Fee. Following are the provisions relating to penalty:

1. Penalty for retention of Indian passport after acquiring Canadian citizenship for a period in excess of three years from the date of acquiring Canadian citizenship
a) If your Passport expired on or before 31 December, 2004 - no penalty
b) If your passport expired on or after 1 January, 2005 - C$ 343
(Note: Retention Penalty (C$343) is different from Renunciation Fee (C$ 240). The latter needs to be paid by those who acquire foreign nationality on or after 1 June, 2010.)
2. Penalty for travelling on Indian Passport after acquiring Canadian citizenship is C$ 343 for each time, subject to a maximum of C$ 1711
3. Penalty for getting Indian Passport renewed or re-issued after acquiring Canadian citizenship is C$ 856 for each such renewal or reissue.
4. Penalty for obtaining any miscellaneous passport service (name change, etc.) on Indian Passport after acquiring Canadian citizenship is C$ 343 for each such service.

Procedure for obtaining Surrender Certificate/Renunciation Certificate

The applicant would need to submit the following:

Duly filled-in application form.
Original Indian passport with one copy.
Copy of the Canadian Citizenship certificate.
Copy of Canadian passport, if held.
Copy of Record of Landing

Applicable Fees.

In addition to the prescribed fee, an applicant would be required to pay C$ 2.00 on account of Consular Surcharge + BLS service fee of C$ 7.40 (inclusive of applicable taxes.)

In case the application is sent by post/mail, the same should be forwarded to the Brampton/Surrey/Ottawa Center of BLS International as per your Jurisdiction and must include the prescribed fee plus BLS charges and courier fees, for return of documents.

CLARIFICATIONS

Surrender Certificate cannot be issued if the last held Indian passport is not physically produced.

Penalty, if applicable, cannot be waived or reduced.

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

---

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Many

Quote:

---

Since I do Not have any reason for emergency/urgent travel to India ( me and my wife - our parents have passed away and we do not own any property in India; we just have an NRO account); Is it worth the hassle to go through the process Surrender Certificate and obtain OCI card? specially now that e-Visa is available Online? solicit opinions

---

Thank you Mitron for your very helpful opinion

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Many

OCI for kids till the age of 20 is NOT really worth it.

As every time their Canadian Passport expires after 5 years, they have to reapply for the OCI, basically renew it and get a new OCI sticker. Big hassle. Might as well just go for a 5 year VISA or yearly VISA for kids.

Age 20 - 50 , you don't have to apply or renew your OCI every time your Canadian Passport expires.

After Age 50, you only have to do it once, when your Canadian Passport expires.