How to Get an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) Card in Ottawa

Instructions

• 1

  Eligibility Criteria
  
  A foreign national, who was eligible to become citizen of India on 26.01.1950 or was a citizen of India on or at any time after 26.01.1950 or belonged to a territory that became part of India after 15.08.1947 and his/her children and grandchildren, provided his/her country of citizenship allows dual citizenship in some form or other under the local laws, is eligible for registration as an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI). Minor children of such persons are also eligible for OCI. However, if the applicant had ever been a citizen of Pakistan or Bangladesh, he/she will not be eligible for OCI.
  
  Note: Minor Children (holding Canadian passports) where both the parents are Indian passport holders are not eligible for OCI card.
  
  For a list of FAQ's, click here.
• 2

  On-Line Registration Part A
  
  The first part of the application process is to complete Part A of the application on-line.
  
  Note: Once Part A has been submitted on-line the applicant cannot make any changes to the document. Please ensure that important personal information like name, date, place of birth, passport number etc. is filled in carefully. If an application is submitted with errors, a new application should be submitted.
  
  Applicants are required to print out Part A of the application for the following steps.
  
  The On-line OCI Registration Form is available here.
• 3

  Manual Registration Part B
  
  Part B of the registration cannot be filled on-line and must be done manually.
  
  After the submission of Part A on-line, a copy of Part A with an on-line Registration Number will be printed along with Part B of application form. Details in Part B must be hand written in BLOCK LETTERS.
• 4

  Full Submission
  
  Copies of both Part A and Part B are required to be submitted in duplicate, along with all the original documents mentioned in the Check-list to the India Consular Service Centre in Ottawa.
  
  The check-list can be found here, and re-iterated here.
  
  Note: All items mentioned on the check-list must be submitted as originals.
  
  The information for the Consular Service Centre is below:
  
  Location and Mailing Address:
  
  Indian Visa and Consular Services Center, Ottawa
  
  Suite 220-384 Bank Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2P 1Y4 (view map)
  
  Submission of Application: 8:00 AM - 2:30PM
  
  Passport pickup: 3:30 PM - 7:00 PM Monday-Saturday
  
  Contact: 1-877-599-8071
  
  8:00 AM - 7:00 PM (Monday – Saturday)
• 5

  OCI Fee
  
  Full information on the OCI fee, additional charges and modes of payment are available here.
• 6

  Return of Documents
  
  The original documents submitted will be returned back to the applicant once the application has been verified by the High Commission/ Consulate General of India. The minimum processing time to return the original documents is 15 working days. Applicant can track the status of their documents on the VFS website by clicking here.
• 7

  Tracking Your OCI Application
  
  Once the originals are returned by VFS, The applicant needs to log on to www.mha.nic.in and track the status of their OCI application using his/her CANT number.
  
  The issuance of the OCI typically takes 4-6 weeks.
• 8

  Approval and Beyond
  
  When your application on www.mha.nic.in states that the OCI is approved or granted and has reached the High commission / Consulate General, applicant needs to come to Consulate Services Center and submit his/ her Canadian passport and the PIO Card (if applicable) along with the acknowledgement slip.
  
  The processing time to stamp the OCI sticker and to issue the OCI card will take at least 5- 7 working days. Please note that these applications cannot be tracked online and applicant needs to visit the center directly after 7 working days to collect the OCI card.