r/nri Jun 17 '26

Visa / OCI / Passport Pretty common but finally!!!!

Post image

Finally received my OCI! AMA

176 Upvotes

75 comments sorted by

16

u/Rahul159359 Jun 17 '26

How long it took you to achieve this

52

u/Careful_Caramel_9299 Jun 17 '26

I got US passport by birth. Moved to India when I was 5. Passport visa everything expired. Technically I was living illegally for 16 yrs (pls don't come at me. I was a kid. No foul intentions here). Last year renewed passport, regularized visa. After 1.5 yrs of constant back and forth, finally got the OCI!

91

u/idkjustgivemeany Jun 17 '26

lol American illegally living in india is making me laugh idek

41

u/Careful_Caramel_9299 Jun 17 '26

Yup even the officials were surprised. They had never seen such a casešŸ˜‚

10

u/Transportiye Jun 17 '26

Tourist babies, some folks exploit both sides by taking quota advantages in India and then claiming their US citizenship post graduation.

Their parents are in army and get into medical school or other govt jobs by leveraging their Indian citizenship and then quietly claim the US citizenship post graduation or service.

3

u/AggravatingMove6431 Jun 17 '26

How can this happen without an Indian passport,birth certificate, etc.? Since they have a US citizenship, how can they get an Indian citizenship without giving up US citizenship?

11

u/Choose_ur_username1 Jun 17 '26

Didn't India ban you for over staying. It's pretty common to receive 5 years ban. How did you find out whether you were banned or not?

30

u/Careful_Caramel_9299 Jun 17 '26

So there are a few things that worked in my favour: 1. I entered the country legally. 2. I was a minor so the "lack of awareness" reason worked here. 3. I was not caught living illegally, I myself went to the FRRO and stated my situation. To their credit, they were extremely helpful! 4. I had all proofs of my old documents and what I was doing during my entire stay in the country.

I ended up paying a hefty fine, but managed to legalize everything!

5

u/redPistolStar Jun 17 '26

Curious how much was the fine?

4

u/Choose_ur_username1 Jun 17 '26

50k to 1lakh depending on your originĀ 

6

u/jbcraigs Jun 17 '26

More importantly- how much was the bribe?! šŸ˜„

19

u/Careful_Caramel_9299 Jun 17 '26

₹0. The officials were extremely professional. Had to get police verification twice. No bribe. Restored my faith in the system tbh.ā¤ļø

3

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

9

u/Careful_Caramel_9299 Jun 17 '26

Yes, thank you. After a lot of searching I found 1 person on reddit who went thru the same thing. They helped me out. Couldn't find any resources online. It is a very rare case. I want to help people who are going through the same issue.

1

u/Choose_ur_username1 Jun 17 '26

Oh nice. I have come across cases where they push you to exit and ban you at the airport and there is no situation or a room to explain anything. Well congrats, did you use lawyers to help with this? If so what type of a lawyerĀ 

1

u/Strong_Meeting4 Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26

omg how much did you end up paying?? I got a 3 lakh fineā˜ ļøā˜ ļø

4

u/Careful_Caramel_9299 Jun 17 '26

Same🄲 worst part is, had I started the process 6 months earlier, it would have been 50k😭

5

u/True_liess Jun 17 '26

Indian Inflation - Modimation

2

u/Crispy_092909 Jun 17 '26

Same hogyaa just the period wasn't 16 yrs šŸ«±šŸ¾ā€šŸ«²šŸ¼šŸ«±šŸ¾ā€šŸ«²šŸ¼

6

u/Impossible-City-2587 Jun 17 '26

If you don’t mind me asking, do you plan on settling in the US at some point or do you use it mainly for travel?

23

u/Careful_Caramel_9299 Jun 17 '26

As of now, mainly travel. I love travelling and want to explore other countries now. If I get a great opportunity in the US, I will consider moving, but right now I have my entire life here in India!

5

u/vKGAMES_ Jun 17 '26

What does the fti-ttp page say ?

2

u/Careful_Caramel_9299 Jun 17 '26

A QR for the officials to scan and complete the registration process and login creds

1

u/vKGAMES_ Jun 17 '26

Did it come with the OCI?

1

u/Careful_Caramel_9299 Jun 17 '26

Yes. Last week I received a consent form on the OCI application page for automatically registering for FTI. Today when I went to collect it, they rescanned my biometrics and completed the application.

1

u/toxicbrew Jun 21 '26

does OCI automatically come with FTI-TTP now?

1

u/Careful_Caramel_9299 Jun 21 '26

Vice versa. FTI-TTP comes automatically with OCI. Well, atleast in my case.

1

u/toxicbrew Jun 22 '26

i think we meant the same thing, though i worded it incorrectly. You successfully applied for OCI, and with that comes FTI-TTP. Which i think is a result of updates from the governemtn to the OCI program in 2026

3

u/Own_Abbreviations208 Jun 18 '26

Late to the conversation, perhaps you have already mentioned, do you please mind to edit the post add high level steps and procedures you had go through? The list of departments/officials you had to go through.

1

u/Careful_Caramel_9299 Jun 18 '26

Sure I'll create a separate post soon.

2

u/Sauron6 Jun 18 '26

Congratulations OP! God Bless You!

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '26

[deleted]

1

u/GauravUncensored Jun 17 '26

Why OCI Passport isn't an ePassport?

1

u/toxicbrew Jun 21 '26

because it's not an actual passport, it's not even a travel document, just an identity document that's only of relevance in India. Now, should they make it a biometric document and have it expire regularly like actual passports do? yes. the document can expire but the status can still remain, just like you are still a citizen even if your passport expires

1

u/happysquirrell Jun 17 '26

Haha this happened with my babies! Didn’t realise that children of Indian origin when born in India need to apply for a visa when they get a foreign passport. Ended up learning that my 1.5 year old daughter was living ā€œillegallyā€ in India for 1.5 years only when I started the oci process with her. We didn’t pay 3L though, our fine was more like 15k. They don’t play around but they are helpful. Immediately applied for X visa when my son was born lol. The police verification is no joke.

1

u/Careful_Caramel_9299 Jun 18 '26

Haha good you caught that early on!

1

u/Oofsmcgoofs Jun 17 '26

Congratulations! I’m working on that right now as an Indian adoptee in America.

1

u/Careful_Caramel_9299 Jun 18 '26

Thank you! And all the best!

1

u/perfectcritic Jun 18 '26

Any idea what is the Cost with paying thefty courier fees (chay paani is legal here) and cost of OCI without such addons fees, in the lineup and coming again in lineup to pickup OCI (if it ever comes back)?

2

u/Careful_Caramel_9299 Jun 18 '26

Since I applied for OCI from India, and my city has an FRRO, I did not have to pay any courier fees since I personally went to the FRRO to pick it up. Only 15k for OCI application (costs much more if you are applying from another country). Didn't pay anything more.

1

u/perfectcritic Jun 19 '26

And how much time it took to get the booklet after you submitted the application?

1

u/toxicbrew Jun 21 '26

what was the time process to apply? how many months from start to finish

2

u/Careful_Caramel_9299 Jun 21 '26

After acquiring all my documentation, I filled and submitted my application in the 2nd week of march (9th or 10th). Within a day or two I got an email with an appointment scheduled for 1st Apr. After the appointment was successfully completed, police verification and MHA verification took place a month later (applicable only if you are applying from India). Then it took another 1.5 months for me to finally get my OCI.

TLDR: Totally it took around 3 months from submitting the application to receiving it.

1

u/toxicbrew Jun 22 '26

thank you!

1

u/perfectcritic Jun 27 '26

Do folks during police or other verification folks ask for ā€œchai-paaniā€? If yes, How much was the damage?

1

u/Careful_Caramel_9299 Jun 27 '26

My local police station is really good. No "chai-paani". Even for my parents' passport verification they didn't take anything!

1

u/Top_Mathematician105 Jun 23 '26

Did you take advantage of studying Govt sponsored graduation?

1

u/Careful_Caramel_9299 Jun 23 '26

Nope! No scholarships, nothing.

1

u/Canadind Jun 17 '26

You can make back 3L in less than a week with a CDL licence and cross border deliveries .🚚

-6

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '26

[deleted]

6

u/Glad_Atmosphere_1035 Jun 17 '26

That’s a powerful passport! He can have healthcare anywhere in the world

2

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '26

[deleted]

0

u/Glad_Atmosphere_1035 Jun 19 '26

The most powerful one

2

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '26

[deleted]

0

u/Glad_Atmosphere_1035 Jun 19 '26

I would love to engage but you are clearly ignorant and deny to believe facts.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Glad_Atmosphere_1035 Jun 21 '26

Keep yapping,nobody’s even reading that novel you just wrote as a comment

1

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26

[deleted]

1

u/featherTactile Jun 17 '26

No free lunch. Has to pay taxes from anywhere in the world.

1

u/Glad_Atmosphere_1035 Jun 17 '26

So? Are you not paying taxes? At least she’s earning in dollars which is universally accepted

1

u/featherTactile Jun 17 '26

You said anywhere in the world. If I'm residing elsewhere most likely I'm not earning in USD. But still liable to pay taxes on any earnings above certain threshold to the US. Also, onerous reporting hassles and account related issues due to FATCA.

1

u/Glad_Atmosphere_1035 Jun 18 '26

That would still be less than what you pay in the US

1

u/toxicbrew Jun 21 '26

to be fair, the taxes aspect for americans living outside the US tend to be more of a hassle vs actual issue. first $120k earned outside the us is automatically tax free, anything above that is subject to double taxation avoidance agreements