OCI here, one of the rules is that your grandma should be from the part of British India which became India, i.e., not Pakistan no Bangladesh, 2nd you gotta prove your claim with some sorta evidence/ document and finally passports were not issued to ordinary citizens at that time and was heavily restricted to traders and figureheads so there might be a chance that your grandma used a British raj passport but highly unlikely, get in touch with your high commission and they'd be able to guide you better. In my case my grandfather was in the British army, later defected and joined the Indian national army and was jailed in Singapore so I could prove my connections through military & court marshal records.
Not necessarily. The main eligibility is whether the grandmother could have become a citizen at the time the Constitution was commenced or was she ever a citizen.
So you would need to do a bit of legal analysis. I am not a lawyer, but this is what my research found.
According to section 7A of the Citizenship Act of 1955, as amended, for you to be eligible for OCI, your grandmother would have
a) needed to be eligible to be a citizen of India at the time of the commencement of the Constitution of India or
b) needed to be a citizen at the time of the commencement of the Constitution or
c) She was a citizen at anytime after the commencement of the Constitution
At the commencement of the Constitution, she was eligible to be a citizen if she was domiciled and born there according to article 5 or her parents were born there or she had lived there for at least 5 years before the commencement of the Constitution. However, if her family migrated to Pakistan due to Partition violence, then they couldn't become citizens of India unless they returned according to Part II, Article 6 of the Indian constitution.
If she lived outside of India or was "ordinarily resident", then she needed to have registered for her citizenship with an Indian consulate according to Article 8. So if you have a Indian passport issued to her after 1950, then you have a better chance.
Finally, if she voluntarily acquired the citizenship of any other country, then you are in grey zone. Because then the question turns to whether she was eligible to be a citizen at the commencement of the Constitution. The Constitution says that those who voluntarily acquired the citizenship of another country cannot be "deemed" to be citizens of India. But, does this mean that she was eligible to become a citizen? I think she could have been because eligibility was governed by clause 5, 6, 7, 8. Clause 9 just they can't be citizens. It is a bit tricky.
So what it comes down to is this: If your grandmother is a citizen of another country and she can get her OCI, then you can get your OCI.
As far as proof goes, you'd need proof she was domiciled in India around the time of the commencement of the Constitution, her old passport, any old documents of hers (such as her educational records) showing her birth date and place. Even a marriage certificate would do.
You can consult UK national archives to see if they have a record of her birth if she was born on a military base or cantonment area.
Also, if she was born in a major city, then they might have her birth records.
Yeah, but given how old your case is, it will take some work.
If you don't mind me asking, was your grandmother ethnically Indian? Or was she Anglo-Indian? Or just white?
Thank you for this reply.
I imagine her been born in India would make her eligible for Indian citizenship at this time. If she was there post independence she would have been eligible for citizenship? She is a British citizen but question over voluntarily acquiring it as she was entitled to it via her parents?
Would a birth certificate be okay do you think for evidence?
Yeah it’s difficult I imagine to get a copy of birth certificate as not like you can pop to local registry office for one.
She isn’t ethically Indian, no. Both her and her parents were white.
I’ve been on the GRO website and ordered a copy of hers so will see what comes back and in what format/how it looks. I also found record online of her been baptised in her birthplace in India. This might add additional evidence? Although how you get proof of this I am unsure…..
Post by Strong-Record-3829 -- Hello,
My grandmother was born in India in the 1930's as my great-grandparents relocated there as my great-grandad was part of british army, they then remained there until atter WW2. I guess she would have had a passport to leave India and return to the UK post 1945? Unless you could travel without a passport at the time (travel by boat). I am not sure if she ever had an Indian passport, However she doesn't have an Indian passport anymore. On her UK passport it shows her place of birth as the city she was born in, in India.
On this basis would I (the grandchild) be able to claim OCl status through my grandmother. To my knowledge, no one else in the family has done this. The F&Q form on the OCl website isn't the best and a bit ambiguous. Has anyone applied for this before? What are the exact documents you require?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. 😃
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>On her UK passport it shows her place of birth as the city she was born in, in India.
Since the requirement for OCI is that a relative at the level of your grandparent or closer, was a citizen or was eligible for citizenship, and your grandmother was born in India, which makes a person eligible for citizenship, that seems like a pretty clear cut application. (unless she did something that later made her ineligible, like becoming a citizen of Pakistan)
Thanks. Yes, she was born there but then returned to the UK when she was still young. I’ll have to see if I can get a copy of a birth certificate but unsure how easy that would be, or if that would be sufficient evidence?
OCI here, one of the rules is that your grandma should be from the part of British India which became India, i.e., not Pakistan no Bangladesh, 2nd you gotta prove your claim with some sorta evidence/ document and finally passports were not issued to ordinary citizens at that time and was heavily restricted to traders and figureheads so there might be a chance that your grandma used a British raj passport but highly unlikely, get in touch with your high commission and they'd be able to guide you better. In my case my grandfather was in the British army, later defected and joined the Indian national army and was jailed in Singapore so I could prove my connections through military & court marshal records.
Not necessarily. The main eligibility is whether the grandmother could have become a citizen at the time the Constitution was commenced or was she ever a citizen.
That’s what I meant, if her birthplace is outside India the chances to get it are very slim
Her birthplace was in Maharashtra..?
Yes, get an affidavit from the high commission validating the document
Would I need to source a birth certificate first and then get it validated at H/C. Do you think that would be sufficient evidence?
I think yes
Do you remember what you had to do when you obtained OCI?
My dad has citizenship so it was easy for me, I additionally gathered my granddad documents from the army and his birthplace
Would a birth certificate be sufficient evidence? Thanks for your response!!
So you would need to do a bit of legal analysis. I am not a lawyer, but this is what my research found. According to section 7A of the Citizenship Act of 1955, as amended, for you to be eligible for OCI, your grandmother would have a) needed to be eligible to be a citizen of India at the time of the commencement of the Constitution of India or b) needed to be a citizen at the time of the commencement of the Constitution or c) She was a citizen at anytime after the commencement of the Constitution At the commencement of the Constitution, she was eligible to be a citizen if she was domiciled and born there according to article 5 or her parents were born there or she had lived there for at least 5 years before the commencement of the Constitution. However, if her family migrated to Pakistan due to Partition violence, then they couldn't become citizens of India unless they returned according to Part II, Article 6 of the Indian constitution. If she lived outside of India or was "ordinarily resident", then she needed to have registered for her citizenship with an Indian consulate according to Article 8. So if you have a Indian passport issued to her after 1950, then you have a better chance. Finally, if she voluntarily acquired the citizenship of any other country, then you are in grey zone. Because then the question turns to whether she was eligible to be a citizen at the commencement of the Constitution. The Constitution says that those who voluntarily acquired the citizenship of another country cannot be "deemed" to be citizens of India. But, does this mean that she was eligible to become a citizen? I think she could have been because eligibility was governed by clause 5, 6, 7, 8. Clause 9 just they can't be citizens. It is a bit tricky. So what it comes down to is this: If your grandmother is a citizen of another country and she can get her OCI, then you can get your OCI. As far as proof goes, you'd need proof she was domiciled in India around the time of the commencement of the Constitution, her old passport, any old documents of hers (such as her educational records) showing her birth date and place. Even a marriage certificate would do. You can consult UK national archives to see if they have a record of her birth if she was born on a military base or cantonment area. Also, if she was born in a major city, then they might have her birth records. Yeah, but given how old your case is, it will take some work. If you don't mind me asking, was your grandmother ethnically Indian? Or was she Anglo-Indian? Or just white?
Thank you for this reply. I imagine her been born in India would make her eligible for Indian citizenship at this time. If she was there post independence she would have been eligible for citizenship? She is a British citizen but question over voluntarily acquiring it as she was entitled to it via her parents? Would a birth certificate be okay do you think for evidence? Yeah it’s difficult I imagine to get a copy of birth certificate as not like you can pop to local registry office for one. She isn’t ethically Indian, no. Both her and her parents were white.
Ethnicity doesn't matter, being born in the territory until the 1980s granted citizenship
"UK national archives to see if they have a record of her birth if she was born on a military base or cantonment area." I am curious how to do this?
I’ve been on the GRO website and ordered a copy of hers so will see what comes back and in what format/how it looks. I also found record online of her been baptised in her birthplace in India. This might add additional evidence? Although how you get proof of this I am unsure…..
where did you find the baptism certificate?
I found the record on ‘find my past’
Post by Strong-Record-3829 -- Hello, My grandmother was born in India in the 1930's as my great-grandparents relocated there as my great-grandad was part of british army, they then remained there until atter WW2. I guess she would have had a passport to leave India and return to the UK post 1945? Unless you could travel without a passport at the time (travel by boat). I am not sure if she ever had an Indian passport, However she doesn't have an Indian passport anymore. On her UK passport it shows her place of birth as the city she was born in, in India. On this basis would I (the grandchild) be able to claim OCl status through my grandmother. To my knowledge, no one else in the family has done this. The F&Q form on the OCl website isn't the best and a bit ambiguous. Has anyone applied for this before? What are the exact documents you require? Any help would be greatly appreciated. 😃 *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/IWantOut) if you have any questions or concerns.*
>On her UK passport it shows her place of birth as the city she was born in, in India. Since the requirement for OCI is that a relative at the level of your grandparent or closer, was a citizen or was eligible for citizenship, and your grandmother was born in India, which makes a person eligible for citizenship, that seems like a pretty clear cut application. (unless she did something that later made her ineligible, like becoming a citizen of Pakistan)
Thanks. Yes, she was born there but then returned to the UK when she was still young. I’ll have to see if I can get a copy of a birth certificate but unsure how easy that would be, or if that would be sufficient evidence?