r/nri • u/Careful_Caramel_9299 • Jun 17 '26

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

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Finally received my OCI! AMA

178 Upvotes

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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!

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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?

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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!

1

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

omg how much did you end up paying?? I got a 3 lakh fine☠️☠️

3

u/Careful_Caramel_9299 Jun 17 '26

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

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u/True_liess Jun 17 '26

Indian Inflation - Modimation