Complete Requirements to get Overseas Citizen of India.
Before marrying my Indian husband, I didn’t even have any knowledge of what an OCI is! What does it do? What are the benefits of having it? How do I get it? When can I get it? Where can I get it? I could not answer any of these questions. When I asked my fellow Filipinos who married Indians, they said I can also get it after 2 years of marriage to my Indian husband. Then what happens when I get it?
Little background
Let me give you some important information about what it’s like living in India before getting an OCI card. But before that, you can go to my blogs about How to get an x-misc entry visa for India, Requirements to visit India for Filipinos and Requirements to Get Married in India. By reading these blogs, you will have some information of the important things you need to get before you get to the point of getting your OCI card.
India has this rule that for a 2-year period during your marriage with your Indian spouse, (for foreigners staying in India) you are not supposed to: 1. Do business 2. Study in India 3. Get a Job. It basically means that for 2 years of your marriage, you cannot engage in studies, work or business.
Police verification
During the conversion of my x-misc visa to x1 visa at the FRRO website (which was after our court wedding), one of the prerequisite is a police verification. After submitting all the requirements online, when it’s verified that all papers are legit, FRRO will call you to confirm that the papers are correct. After this the police visited our house. This happened during COVID and no one was allowed to visit the FRRO office. That’s why police paid a visit to us for verifications.
When the police showed up at our residence, he checked all the original papers we submitted online in the presence of my in-laws. Then he asked me (the foreigner married to an Indian) to write a statement with my signature stating that “I will not do business, job or studies in India”.
Present
During my 2-year period of staying in India, I went home to the Philippines for 2 months to visit my family. If you ask if it’s allowed to go out of the country during the 2-year period of your marriage, the answer is YES. You can get OCI even if you are outside of India itself. As long as you are married to an Indian for 2 years, then you can apply for OCI at the Indian Embassy wherever you are.
What is OCI?
How to Apply for OCI?
After your 2 year official wedding anniversary (the date mentioned on the marriage certificate), you can apply for the OCI the next day. You don’t need to go anywhere but just go online to the OCI website for new OCI registration.
You will see this screen after clicking it. There will be information written on the right side which says, ‘Before you start’, ‘Prerequisites’ and ‘After Registration’. You can also click the options on the left side corner to learn more about other OCI processes just like what you see on the screen.
After clicking ‘Proceed’ you will see more information you need to comply. Just click ‘I have read the Instructions’ and ‘Accept’.
More information will be presented and you need to follow each of these, like how you should upload a photo of your signature, upload files in PDF, and submit a hard copy when going to OCI office.
Just fill-up Applicants Information, Applicants passport details, and Applicants Family details.
You will see another page/s to fill-up after this.
Here are the list of requirements we uploaded online. Remember that all the documents need to be in PDF file format.
1. Passport of Applicant
You need to provide a clear copy of your passport’s front and back pages. Compile them and make a PDF format.
2. Marriage Certificate
SDM issued marriage certificate is crucial. This needs to be in PDF file format as well.
3. Current Active Visa
After the conversion of your visa (whether it’s x-misc to x1 or tourist visa to x1 visa), you will need to extend your visa for a longer stay in India. That extended visa is what you will attach here which is in PDF file format.
4. Photo with any Colored Blue Background (Photo requirements keep changing as per OCI)
You will see the specifications of this in the beginning of your application. I will attach a photo below for you to read again. Your photo needs to be in any colored background, except white. Mine was in a blue background. Don’t worry if you are not sure since OCI representatives will also call you to change the wrong photos or documents you sent online. You also need to keep hard copies of documents to attach to your application during your interview.
5. Demand Draft
If you are a foreigner applying for your OCI in the Indian Embassy of the country where you are currently in, you need to pay an OCI Registration fee of US $275 (US $100 for conversion of PIO to OCI card).
If you are applying for your OCI in India, you need to pay Rs 15,000 in a Demand Draft and it needs to be in favour of “Pay and Accounts Officer (Secretariat), Ministry of Home Affairs payable at New Delhi.
See attached file below for more details.
6.Proof of Residence (Any Bills & Declaration of Landlord, or Rent Agreement, Passport Copy of Spouse)
6.1 Any Bill & Declaration of Landlord/Rent Agreement
We submitted electric bill of our house with a declaration of landlord (who is my mother-in-law). See photo below for sample of declaration of landlord. More important than the declaration is that your spouse’s passport should clearly show the mother’s name. In absence of mother’s name in the passport, you can get an official rent agreement done. In case of deficiency, FRRO will contact you and you can ask them directly on alternatives.
6.2 Attached your Indian Husband’s Passport’s clear copy of front and back in PDF file format.
7. Affidavit of Subsistence of marriage (Format to be obtained from OCI via email)
8. Questionnaire to be filled and uploaded (Provided by OCI site office during Registration)
After submitting all the papers online, the OCI officers will confirm what you submitted. They might call you to re-upload in case something is wrong. After this you need to email OCI to give you an appointment date and when that appointment date is confirmed you will go to the FRRO office which is located in your areas.
During submission of papers, you will be given a questionnaire with personal questions written there. Examples: Where you met, How you met, Which place did you go to after the wedding, Where do you live in India, Names of you In-laws and brother/sister-in-laws etc. While filling up the papers, the OCI officer will ask you not to talk to each other. Having your own answers is critical here. You should not have any similar answers since every memory is different. This is also to test how much you know about living in India, about your experiences and family. After answering this, you need to take a photo convert it to PDF and upload it to the OCI website as directed by the OCI officer.
9. Copy of the Form You Filled Online
Once your application is confirmed online, you need to download your OCI form and bring it with you when you go to FRRO. You also need to bring a copy of your photo which will be attached later on the paper.
First OCI Interview Experience
I was thinking the interview will be hard and tedious. In the Philippines, it’s always the case that’s why I was nervous going to the OCI office. When we reached there, the lady who entertained us asked for all the requirements listed above. After this, she gave us the questionnaire. Due to my focus, I did not notice that she said, ‘Don’t talk to each other while answering the questionnaire.’ She said this in Hindi that’s why I was not able to get it since my focus was somewhere else. I’m not yet an expert in Hindi, that’s why in order for me to understand, I need to focus on the person speaking.
After filling up the questionnaire, PJ got it scanned from a local shop, uploaded the pdf to the website the OCI officer told him. While he’s scanning the questionnaire, I was signing all the papers we submitted.
When PJ came back, the OCI officer told me to go to the counter and put my palm in a machine with fingerprints on each of my fingers. Only one lady asked me if I know how to cook Indian dishes and I said yes which is true. I know some Indian dishes and I’m learning more.
Nobody interviewed me because my husband told the OCI officer that I have limited Hindi. She interviewed PJ instead. So my OCI interview went really smoothly. No hassle at all.
Second Interview
Few weeks after the submission of our papers and the first interview, we were called to the FRRO office for another verification/interview. When we arrived there, I was asked a question about my first arrival here in India but since he did not get my accent, my husband answered him instead. The OCI officer asked us for another set of papers and they’re listed below.
Extra Things Needed During Interview:
1. Proof of Income from Spouse
You just need to show a proof of income from your Indian spouse. Contracts, joining letter, bank statements etc are helpful to validate the claim.
2. Old Visa
Thankfully we have a copy of all of my visa so we showed him my old visa from 2021-2022 since we already submitted my current visa from 2022-2023.
3. Original Passport of Both
Just show both of your passports to the OCI officer.
That’s it. The interview only took 15 minutes. The officer said new updates will be on the website.
Collecting OCI card
After two months of constantly opening the OCI website (and calling them), we finally saw on the website that my OCI certificate was dispatched. Seeing this, my husband called the OCI officer as he had saved their number. There is no point in sharing the numbers, because the officers change and assignment is random. They gave us a date to go to the OCI office.
The OCI office at R.K. Puram, Delhi for collecting the OCI card is kinda hard to find. So it’s better to really use google maps, ask the right directions and read signs as well.
The officer asked for my Philippine passport and then he gave me a paper to sign. It asked for my name, passport number, date of collecting for my OCI card, address and the number of my new OCI card, etc. After this he gave me my OCI card! Finally! Two years of waiting for this and it’s finally on my hands.
My husband asked the officer, ‘Now what do we do?’ The officer explained what I can do and can’t do in India. For more information, you can read from the website.
The OCI officer also told me I can do anything legal now in India and am free to do so except for the things mentioned above this.
PS: The only frustrating part is filling the Form A & B over and over again in case of any mistake. Usually the whole form needs to be refilled. Try to take time and fill it out with patience. Cheers.
