High Commission of India, Ottawa, Canada

Persons of Indian Origin to obtain Surrender Certificate on Renunciation of Indian Citizenship

Persons of Indian origin applying for Indian visa, OCI/PIO Card or miscellaneous consular services are required to produce a Surrender Certificate. This Certificate would be issued to them on payment of one-time Renunciation of Indian Citizenship Fee. Salient features of the scheme are listed below:

* Indian citizens acquiring any foreign citizenship on or after 1 June, 2010 must formally renounce Indian citizenship. This can be done by surrendering their Indian passports for cancellation and obtaining a "Surrender Certificate" endorsement on the cancelled passport.  They would be required to pay a one time Renunciation Fee of Canadian $ 168 while surrendering their Indian passports.  The Indian passports would be cancelled and returned to the passport holder along with the Surrender Certificate for future reference.

* Indian citizenship must be formally renounced as soon as possible after acquiring foreign citizenship.

* Production of Surrender Certificate endorsement is essential while applying for Indian visa, PIO/OCI card or any other miscellaneous consular services, in case you acquired Canadian citizenship on or after 1 June, 2010.

* In case, the Indian passport held at the time of acquiring Canadian citizenship is not available, a statement explaining the circumstances of the loss/damage; police report of lost passport, if lodged; photocopy of the Passport, if available; the passport number and date of issue/expiry, if available; must be provided, along with proof in support of the fact that you held an Indian Passport in the past. One such proof can be the "Record of Landing" issued by the Citizenship and Immigration (CIC) Canada on your arrival in Canada. Please see a sample by clicking here  If this has also been lost, you can get a duplicate issued by the CIC by making an application to them.

(Amounts revised effective 01.04.2021)

It is essential to keep the Surrender Certificate endorsement very carefully as that will be required while approaching the Indian High Commission in future.

* Please note that it is a punishable offense under the Indian Passport Act, 1967 to apply for Indian passport or continue to hold an Indian passport or get an Indian passport re-issued or to travel on Indian passport after acquiring foreign citizenship.

* We encourage you to read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) by clicking here.

Procedure for obtaining Surrender Certificate/Renunciation Certificate:

Please note that we have outsourced this service to our outsourcing agents, BLS International. You are required to contact them directly for depositing your forms and fees. All your queries may also be directed to their staff. Their office addresses, timings, phone numbers and e-mail address can be found by clicking here  In addition to the fee and penalties, if any, applicable to your case, you will also be required to pay processing fee to BLS International. Please consult them about the total cost and the exact procedure for remitting the fee.

You will need to submit following documents to obtain Surrender Certificate/Renunciation Certificate:

*Fill in online passport registration form at https://embassy.passportindia.gov.in/  this will generate a PDF file.

* Original Indian passport with one copy. (This is not required if you are applying for Renunciation Certificate or Deemed Surrender Certificate. Please see the Frequently Asked Questions by clicking here. )

* Copy of the Canadian Citizenship certificate. To see a specimen, click here 

* Copy of Canadian passport, if held.

Please do read the General Instructions by clicking here.