OCI application for your children

Applying on behalf of children

In this article, we specifically address the issue of applying for an OCI for your children. If you, your parents or your grandparents were citizens of India, your children would also be entitled to apply to become an OCI.

For the latest requirements, please visit the VFS website and refer to the latest checklist. For many of our clients, the application for an OCI for their children requires them to have the copies of passports of both parents notarised and a copy of the child's birth certificate to be notarised as well. If you have multiple children, then each child must have their own set of notarised copies of parents' passports.

Usually, the requirement for attestation outlined for this application means 'certified copies'. However, if you are a resident of New South Wales, it also means that the attestation must be performed by a notary public. A justice of the peace (which is a free service) is not authorised to 'notarise' a document. Notarisation can only be provided by a notary public (and this is usually not a free service).

As a leading provider of notary public services in Sydney, we regularly help clients intending to apply for their own OCI as well as an OCI for their children.

What is an OCI?

OCI stands for "Overseas Citizen of India". For many of our clients, who are Australian citizens (and sometimes New Zealand citizens) living in Australia, the main attraction for applying to be recognised as an OCI is the multiple entry and unlimited stay in India. This is especially important if they still have family (ie, aging parents), property or other business interests in India.

What are the benefits of being an OCI?

Aside from multiple entry and the entitlement to multi-purpose life long visa to visit India, the other benefits of being an OCI are:

• Exemption from reporting to Police authorities for any length of stay in India; and
• Parity with non-resident Indians in financial, economic and educational fields except in the acquisition of agricultural or plantation properties.

Who can apply to become an OCI?

If you have renounced your Indian citizenship (or your family were originally from India) and you are now a citizen of another country (ie, Australia or New Zealand), you can apply to become an OCI provided that:

• you were a citizen of India at the time of, or at any time after 26th January 1950; or
• you were eligible to become a citizen of India on 26th January 1950; or
• you belonged to a territory that became part of India after 15th August 1947; or
• you are a child or a grandchild or a great-grandchild of such a citizen; or
• you are a minor child of such persons mentioned above; or
• you are a minor child and whose both parents are citizens of India or one of the parents is a citizen of India.

Besides, a spouse of foreign origin of a citizen of India or spouse of foreign origin of an Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder and whose marriage has been registered and subsisted for a continuous period of not less than two years immediately preceding the presentation of the application is also eligible for registration as OCI cardholder.

Acknowledgements

This blog is supported and maintained by Phang Legal. Phang Legal is a leading provider of notary public services in Sydney. With offices conveniently located in Parramatta and Rouse Hill, Phang Legal supports and services the Indian community across Sydney with readily available and easily accessible notary public services at highly competitive rates.

Frequently asked questions regarding our notary public services can also be found at https://www.notary-parramatta.com.au/faqs/.

Ern Phang
Notary Public

Ern Phang is the solicitor director of Phang Legal and a notary public. Ern regularly writes about his experiences as a notary public, including the kinds of problems and solutions that his clients face when sending documents to India.

IMPORTANT: the information in this article is correct at the time of publication, however, the law constantly changes. This means you should always refer to the most recent articles because we try to update this blog on a regular basis with the most current information.

Applying for Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) from VFS

What's an Overseas Citizen of India?

A foreign national, - (i) who was a citizen of India at the time of, or at any time after 26th January, 1950; or (ii) who was eligible to become a citizen of India on 26th January, 1950; or (iii) who belonged to a territory that became part of India after 15th August, 1947; or (iv) who is a child or a grandchild or a great grandchild of such a citizen; or (v) who is a minor child of such persons mentioned above; or (vi) who is a minor child and whose both parents are citizens of India or one of the parents is a citizen of India - is eligible for registration as OCI cardholder.

Besides, spouse of foreign origin of a citizen of India or spouse of foreign origin of an Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder and whose marriage has been registered and subsisted for a continuous period of not less than two years immediately preceding the presentation of the application is also eligible for registration as OCI cardholder. However, no person, who or either of whose parents or grandparents or great grandparents is or had been a citizen of Pakistan, Bangladesh or such other country as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify, shall be eligible for registration as an Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder.

- https://ociservices.gov.in/

What's the benefit of being an OCI?

• Multiple entry, multi-purpose lifelong visa to visit India;
• Exemption from reporting to Police authorities for any length of stay in India; and
• Parity with NRIs in financial, economic and educational fields except in the acquisition of agricultural or plantation properties.

Applying for OCI in Sydney

In Australia, applications to become an OCI must be submitted through VFS.

If you live in New South Wales, in support of your OCI application, you must have your various supporting documents attested by a notary public. 

Notary public services for OCI application

As a leading provider of notary public services in Sydney, we help many clients who are submitting their OCI applications to VFS. Documents that we commonly attest to support the OCI application include:

• Copies of passports
• Copies of birth certificates
• Copies of marriage certificates
• Copies of driver licence
• Copies of utility bills
• Statutory Declarations and Affidavits

Each person must submit their own application (and their own set of attested documentation). Submitting an application on behalf of your child will require additional documents from each parent as well.

Acknowledgements

This blog is supported and maintained by Phang Legal. Phang Legal is a leading provider of notary public services in Sydney. With offices conveniently located in Parramatta, Phang Legal supports and services the Indian community across Sydney with readily available and easily accessible notary public services at highly competitive rates.

Frequently asked questions regarding our notary public services can also be found at https://www.notary-parramatta.com.au/faqs/.

Ern Phang
Notary Public

Ern Phang is the solicitor director of Phang Legal and a notary public. Ern regularly writes about his experiences as a notary public, including the kinds of problems and solutions that his clients face when sending documents to India.

IMPORTANT: the information in this article is correct at the time of publication, however the law constantly changes. This means you should always refer to the most recent articles because we try to update this blog on a regular basis with the most current information.

Some issues with the new VFS requirements...

Did you know that VFS recently changed its requirements?

Changes with VFS happen from time to time and (unfortunately) without notice catching many people by surprise. This sometimes means you could have a pending application, which is now invalid due to the changes. You're not alone.

Having been in this industry for nearly two decades, we've seen many changes come and go. Some changes make sense and are reflective of various changes in processes, policy, or regulation. On the other hand, some changes make no sense at all and leave us scratching our heads.

Sadly (and strangely), the recent changes have singled out people living in New South Wales to be subject to different requirements from the rest of Australia. Not sure why that's the case. But regardless of the reason, that's the situation that we and everyone else must deal with.

If you live in New South Wales and you are submitting documents to VFS, some of those documents must be attested by a notary public (even if the checklist or the document itself states that it can be attested by a justice of the peace). If you live in other states, then a justice of the peace will be accepted, but in NSW it can only be attested by a notary public.

This presents us with an unusual problem because there are some documents that you might have to submit to VFS which cannot be notarised in Australia. Here are some examples of documents that you might need to have attested in Australia and whether they can actually be notarised or not.

"I need to attest or notarise my Indian marriage certificate"

Sorry, if your document originated from an Indian government office, it isn't an Australian public document or an internationally recognised document and so it can't be notarised in Australia. Documents issued from India should be notarised by a public notary in India - not in Australia. If there's no connection to Australia, then we don't have the authority to attest, certify or notarise it (ie, state that it's a true copy of a specific document) especially if we have no way to verify, identify or confirm that the original is in fact genuine. Some notaries may tell you that they are just certifying that it's the copy of an original document, but the problem always exists that if they can't verify the original, then how do they certify it? We don't accept that this is the correct approach and so we're unable to assist with that kind of notarisation.

"I need to attest or notarise my child's Indian passport"

Yes, we can notarise the Indian passport. Even though it has been issued by the Indian government because the Indian passport (like all other passports) are international documents and should be recognised and accepted in Australia. 

"I need to attest or notarise my passport, front and back page, and my visa page"

What do you mean by 'visa page'? Australia no longer issues physical labels or stamps in passports for visas. The stamps that may appear in your passport generally relate to entry and exit stamps, but they're not visas - and not every country continues to physically stamp passports anyway. For Australia, your visa is now recorded electronically through VEVO, also known as Visa Entitlement Verification Online. We are able to notarise the VEVO as it's issued by the Australian government.

"I need to attest or notarise my Aadhaar card", "I need to attest or notarise my PAN card", I need to attest or notarise my OCI card"

All these cards are issued by the Indian government. They are not internationally accepted or recognised documents (ie, they are only for use in India) and therefore have no connection or relevance to Australia. Accordingly, these documents should normally be notarised by a public notary in India - not in Australia. DESPITE THIS, we have been providing clients with a solution to notarise their passport, with a copy of their various Aadhaar card/PAN card or OCI card with a declaration that 'they are the one and the same person'. So while this strictly is not notarising a copy of the various cards, it's notarising a statement or declaration that you are the same person who appear in those cards, that kind of attestation or notarisation has been accepted previously. We're still are not providing certification that those cards or the copy of those cards are true (which would otherwise be beyond our authority to do so). If you only want the Aadhaar card, PAN card or OCI card to be attested without your passport, then we're unable to assist for the same reasons as explained above.

Closing thoughts

We've already started to see the number of documents being rejected by VFS because they haven't been attested or notarised by a notary public. We want to take this opportunity to remind people that these changes exist with VFS, not our office. Taking out your frustrations on our office will not aid you in your endeavours, especially as we're here to help.

To assist the Indian community in Sydney, we've recently introduced revised pricing for our notary public services in an attempt to ease the burden imposed by these changes.

For more information or to obtain a quote, please contact us on 02 9687 8885.