We went through this process from USA (DEC-2021), Most of the steps will be same for all other countries as well but may be few things might vary.
Step 1:
> This is preliminary Step to get started with OCI, You need to have Birth Certificate and Passport for Baby.
Step 2:
> Get 2 Photos of Baby 2 by 2 Inch, Photos must be different from what you have already in Passport.
> You can take photos in home and take soft copy to walgreens they do the required edits to remove background and give you 2 photos for 15$ or you can use any other online websites.
> Get a Stamp Pad, You will need this to capture the Baby Thumb 2 times(Left Thumb for Boy/girl) one to upload on the website other on the application form after filling everything that you need to send it to Embassy. You can also manage with Eyeliner if you do not have a Stamp pad.
Step 3:
> Download the Parental Authorization Form this link https://visa.vfsglobal.com/one-pager/india/united-states-of-america/oci-services/pdf/parental-authorization.pdf , Print it and fill the form. Get it Notarized by a nearby place who are authorized to do attestation / notary. Chase Bank will do it for free but due to COVID they stopped doing it. You may have to pay 10$ per copy at UPS store and get it done. We have done this at UPS.
> Both the parents needs to be at Notary Office along with valid ID cards as both parents will have to sign in that form in front of notary do not sign at home.
> Both the parents needs to be at Notary Office along with valid ID cards as both parents will have to sign in that form in front of notary do not sign at home.
Step 4:
OCI Application filing online at https://ociservices.gov.in/
You will have 2 steps Part A and Part B as part of this process.
> As part of Part A You will need to fill some basic details about passport and few other things, at the end of Part A you will need to upload Baby Photo and Signature. Make sure you follow the dimensions and sizes of photo as prescribed they will also give you an option to crop the photo after uploading if its not exactly matching to their standards so do not worry much about the dimensions. Please take a note of the Application ID which can be used to retrieve the application if you leave in between, You will also get an email with the same details
> As part of Part A You will need to fill some basic details about passport and few other things, at the end of Part A you will need to upload Baby Photo and Signature. Make sure you follow the dimensions and sizes of photo as prescribed they will also give you an option to crop the photo after uploading if its not exactly matching to their standards so do not worry much about the dimensions. Please take a note of the Application ID which can be used to retrieve the application if you leave in between, You will also get an email with the same details
> As Part of Part B you will mostly fill up some of the Yes or No questions. Once part B is done you will need to upload the documents. It may not take you directly to that page. You will need to navigate.
Step 5:
> All the docs needs to be in pdf format and they should be less than 1000 KB. Use the official Adobe website for this by far the best one for compressing pdfs.
- Passport of Baby, Observation pages , first and last page with information
- Birth Certificate of Baby : (Have Seen in many places that we need to apostille the Birth certificate from a SOS office / District Magistrate but I did not do this process as many people told if both parents are indians not required to do apostille.)
- Parents Passports : Observation pages and important pages like first page, visa pages, address page. Do not try to upload all the pages you will end up having issues to compress it under 1000 KB. Make one pdf of both parents passports.
- Parental Authorization form that you have got Authorized in Above step needs to be uploaded.If you want to go only once to Attestation office, First you can upload the parental authorization document without attestation and once you generate the application form you can get both application form and parental authorization form get attested and re upload the parental authorization at a later point. I have uploaded notarized copy later.
- Marriage Certificate of parents
- Legal Presence of parents Latest I 94.(If your petition is expired and you are on extension receipt you can still apply with expired petition and receipt notice of extension, include both parents approval notices/valid visas/extension receipts)
- Address proof, Parents Drivers License or any other document
This is how the upload screen looks like once you upload all the documents.
> Once you upload all the documents you will get a button for Final Submit, Once you click on Final Submit you will be able to generate Application Form which you will need to download and get attested to send in post.
> You can always re upload the documents by visiting this same website.
> A Detailed checklist of required documents for OCI can be found at below link:
https://services.vfsglobal.com/one-pager/india/united-states-of-america/oci-services/pdf/oci-checklist-minor-final.pdf
https://services.vfsglobal.com/one-pager/india/united-states-of-america/oci-services/pdf/oci-checklist-minor-final.pdf
Step 6:
> Now that you have completed Form A & B and also uploaded all the required documents. You will not be given any further message on what needs to be done next.
> You need to goto the VFS global website at this link https://row1.vfsglobal.com/IHCUSPostalAppointment/IHCQuestionnaire/Index and provide the application ID that you have got from the OCI Website in the above step along with few other details like address and payment details.
> You will also need to select how you want to send that documents , I have selected Fedex , and then submit the form.
> Once you submit the form It will show 335.24$ as the total price including the charges to send the documents to them and they sending the OCI back to you. Below is a break down of amount that we will pay for OCI.
> You need to goto the VFS global website at this link https://row1.vfsglobal.com/IHCUSPostalAppointment/IHCQuestionnaire/Index and provide the application ID that you have got from the OCI Website in the above step along with few other details like address and payment details.
> You will also need to select how you want to send that documents , I have selected Fedex , and then submit the form.
> Once you submit the form It will show 335.24$ as the total price including the charges to send the documents to them and they sending the OCI back to you. Below is a break down of amount that we will pay for OCI.
> You will have an option to download the Fedex Label, Please download that label and take it with you when you goto Fedex Office from VFS website, it will not ask you to download you have to navigate on the website and download this.
> If you forgot to download fedex label You can always revisit the VFS Global Website and download it by logging into your account.
> If you forgot to download fedex label You can always revisit the VFS Global Website and download it by logging into your account.
Step 7:
> Print the Application Form(Only first 3 pages) that you have downloaded from Step 5 and also all supporting documents that you uploaded
> Have thumb of Kid on the same form in the designated Area.
> Have one parent sign the application form in front of notary on the designated area. one parent is good enough, You need to sign in front of notary and get notary done for application form.
Step 8:
> Visit your nearest Fedex Office They will give a envelope once you show them the fedex label, place all the documents that you have uploaded along with application form and 2 photos, You don't need to fill the address or pay any thing as you already paid on VFS Website which includes the price for sending the docs form your side as well.
Make sure you have below documents in the package self attest all the documents except the ones that you are getting attested:
- Passport of Baby: Copy Observation , first and last pages
- Birth Certificate : Copy
- Baby Passport photos : 2 , Same as what you have uploaded in OCI website.
- Passport of parents, Observation , first and last pages : Copy
- Address Proof : Copy (Drivers License / State ID / Power Bill / Gas Bill etc)
- Parents Legal Status : Copy of Latest Valid VISAs / Valid Petitions / Expired petitions with extension receipt of both parents
- Marriage Certificate : Copy
- Previous Indian VISA of kid: Copy If available and applicable
- Parental Authorization Form: Original attested
- OCI Application form : Original attested
- Fedex Label: this will be used by fedex you don't need to place this in envelope
Mostly you will receive an update from VFS Global team that your package has received and they will get back to you over email if any additional documents required.
Good Luck, Hope this helps to make the process bit easy for you !!!
Timeline Tracker: It took 36 Calendar days for us to get the OCI card.
DEC-10-2021 (Friday): We have submitted the documents in a nearby fedex shipping center.
Good Luck, Hope this helps to make the process bit easy for you !!!
Timeline Tracker: It took 36 Calendar days for us to get the OCI card.
DEC-10-2021 (Friday): We have submitted the documents in a nearby fedex shipping center.
DEC-16-2021, 4 PM EST (Thursday):
DEC-16-2021, 9 PM EST (Thursday):
JAN-13-2022, 8 PM EST (Thursday):
JAN-15-2022, 2 PM EST (Received OCI Card through Fedex:
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