Expired and "cut" Australian passport with valid Indian (OCI) visa
Australia's passport renewal process includes the passport official cutting out the machine readable zone of the old passport (middle pages are not touched), if the old passport has not expired. Now for my son, this old "cut" passport has a lifelong Indian visa.
Has anyone travelled to India with visa on the "cut Australian" passport ? Do the airlines or Indian immigration have any requirement of a non-damaged passport. Will they consider this passport as cancelled or damaged? Is damaged like this worse than having a cancelled stamp on the passport ?
Please tell me if it is possible to travel with visa on cut Australian passport.
Best Answer
When you mention 'visa' I'm presuming you are referring to the "U" Visa in his passport corresponding to his OCI status.
Since 2015, India has ceased issuing these visas, and they are no longer required when entering the country - you only need to present your OCI card.
You will find this information stated on many official websites, such as the Bureau of Immigration website (towards the bottom as Note 1) :
Government of India has decided to dispense with the "U" Visa sticker on the foreign passport of OCI card holders with immediate effect. Accordingly, Immigration authorities shall not insist on production of foreign passport containing the "U" Visa sticker in the case of OCI card holders while they enter/exit India. OCI card holders shall now be given Immigration clearance on the strength of their valid forign passport and OCI Registration Certificate (OCI booklet, popularly known as OCI card).
In addition to this change, India does generally accept visas that are contained in prior passports, and the 'damage' done by removing the machine-readable strip on the bio page does not invalidate that.
HOWEVER if your Son is below 21 years of age, then he is required to obtain a new OCI card whenever he obtains a new passport. This is not related to the visa, but to the OCI card itself. The same is also true when passing 50 years of age.
Further information on this can be found on the CKGS website (CKGS is the company responsible for Indian visas/OCI/etc in the US, so it a legitimate company/website)
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Is OCI valid if passport expires?
OCI card needs to be re-issued each time a new passport is acquired by the cardholder up to the age of 20 years. OCI card is required to be re-issued once on acquiring a new passport after completing 50 years of age.What happens to my OCI when I renew my passport?
Applicants who have renewed their old passports owing to expiry can transfer the OCI stamp from the old passport to the new passport. If your passport or the OCI booklet is lost then you need to apply for re-issue of a new OCI card.What happens if passport expires with valid visa?
In case of passport reissue, the new passport will be released while the old passport will be cancelled and returned. However, any of the active visas on the old passport will still be valid and can be used till expiry of the particular visa.Can I travel with OCI and old passport?
A: You will be allowed entry into India if you have a valid OCI Card and a valid foreign passport. You do not need to carry the old passport on which your "U\u201d (OCI) Visa was stamped, if that happens to be different from your current passport.Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Nataliya Vaitkevich, Porapak Apichodilok, Yan Krukov, Yan Krukov