Desi Clerk  ·  Passport & OCI from the USA

Call my agent.

Your agent knows the rules. Desi Clerk knows the counter. Got a Dot, a Duet or a Muse working for you? Hand it this loop-engineered skill so it doesn't drop any bureaucratic balls: the photo spec, the affidavit the desk never asked for, the form that expires at 90 days. Three applications: surrender your Indian passport, OCI for you, OCI for your child.

Load the India consular skill from github.com/vousenpri/desiclerk/tree/main/skill and prepare my VFS applications: surrender, OCI for me, OCI for my child. Tell me the preconditions before any form, then tell me whether to mail it or walk in at my centre, check VFS appointment availability if walk-in, pick a slot that fits my calendar, and put the deadlines on it.

If it has your browser and calendar, it works out mail-in versus walk-in, checks VFS slot availability if you need one, picks it around your week and puts the 90-day form expiry and the 3-month passport-upload window on it. Your passport scans stay with your agent. Desi Clerk never receives them. Free, no account.

No agent? Use the page
Centre
The three sites, and what each one needs

Where you are, and what you're waiting for.

Three government sites, three VFS submissions, one dependency: nothing about OCI can start until the surrender certificate is physically back. Your US passport never leaves you.

Walk in or mail it? At the counter they check the stack in front of you, so anything wrong gets fixed there. By courier the same gap is a deficiency email a week later, a 7-day clock, and a 20-day abandonment behind it. First time through, a name variation, or a child: walk in. A clean repeat: mail it.
Passport SevaThe surrender form. Needs your Indian passport number, US passport number, US address.embassy.passportindia.gov.in VFS GlobalRegistration, payment, courier, appointment. Every application passes through here.services.vfsglobal.com/usa/en/ind OCI ServicesThe OCI form. Needs your photo, signature and every document as PDF before you start.ociservices.gov.in

Window 1 · Surrender

Passport Seva formPrint in Safari after the photo loads. US address as present address.
Indian passport numberUS passport number
VFS registration, $62Confirmation receipt goes in the envelope.
Send or hand in at VFSCourier is the default: VFS label or your own UPS/USPS label with no expiry, FedEx refused, one application per envelope, return address matching your address proof. Walk-in needs an appointment.
Indian passport, original2 photos, white2 certificate formsUS passport copyNaturalization copyAddress proofChecklist as cover
Your Indian passport leaves here and comes back cancelled. Your US passport stays in your pocket.
7–21 working daysYou can travel on the US passport the whole time.
Surrender certificate + cancelled passportScan both the day they arrive.

Window 2 · OCI for you

Needs the surrender certificate in hand. Prepare everything else during the wait; fill the form last.
OCI Services formExpires 90 days after you fill it.
Surrender certificate scanPhoto JPEG, light bgSignature JPEGUS passport scanNaturalization scanMarriage certificate scanAddress proof scan
VFS registration, $297
Send or hand in at VFS
Printed form, photo affixedCopies of everythingAffidavits, wet-ink notarizedVoter-card undertaking
Nothing original goes in. Keep travelling on the US passport; use a visa if you need India before it's granted.
8–10 weeks
e-OCI PDFDownload when the portal says Granted. No card in the mail.

Window 3 · OCI for your child

Needs one proof of Indian origin: a parent's cancelled Indian passport stamped on acquiring foreign citizenship, a parent's OCI, or a grandparent's Indian passport with the birth certificates that connect them. Does not wait for your own OCI.
OCI Services formThumbprint under 5. Both parents sign Part B.
Parent's cancelled Indian passport or OCIChild's photo, light bgChild's US passport, 9+ monthsBirth certificate, long form, apostilledMarriage certificate, apostilled
VFS registration, $297
Send or hand in at VFS
Printed formParental authorization, wet-ink notarizedCopies of everything
Child's passport stays with you.
8–10 weeks
Child's e-OCI
Your stack

Surrender

What must be true before you print anything, then what the desk takes from you, in the order it reads it.

Before you print anything

    Hand over, in this order

      Photo check

      One photo will not do for both.

      Surrender wants a white background. OCI wants a light background that is not white. If you're doing both, you need two photos. Drop the digital file here and get the upload and the print made from it.

      When

      The clocks don't agree with each other.

      Enter the day you hand in the surrender and the rest follows.

        Gotchas

        What the checklist doesn't say.

        Print from Safari or Firefox, not Chrome. The Passport Seva PDF loads the photo late and Chrome prints it blank. Wait until you can see the photo, then print. One applicant's experience, October 2026; cheap to avoid either way.

        The notarized appearance or signature-change affidavit is not on the VFS checklist. It has been reported at the New York centre and was not asked for at the New Jersey centre in October 2026. If a guide tells you to get it, ask the centre you're actually using before paying a notary.

        The fee is $62 flat. Older guides split it by whether you naturalized before June 2010. VFS dropped that.

        Two upload specs exist on VFS's own site, one says 500 KB, the other 30 KB. A 600 × 600 JPEG under 30 KB satisfies both. The photo check above makes one.

        You can't file OCI until the surrender certificate is physically back, and the OCI form expires 90 days after you fill it. Don't fill it early to feel ready.

        No physical OCI card any more. Since July 2026 the grant is a PDF you download from ociservices.gov.in when the status says Granted. Existing booklets stay valid. Consulate General of India, Chicago, notice of 9 July 2026.

        For a child born in the US, the birth certificate has to be apostilled. The VFS minor checklist says a certificate issued outside India must be apostilled by the issuing government, and the same applies to a US marriage certificate. Hospital certificates and the short form are refused outright. In New York that is three offices: the long form with letter of exemplification from NYC Health (45 Lafayette Street, Room 133, by appointment, or VitalChek, reason "Apostille/Authentication"), the County Clerk at 60 Centre Street to authenticate the signature, and the Department of State at 123 William Street for the apostille. All three are within a ten-minute walk; often one morning, subject to office hours and appointments. Submit a self-attested copy of the apostilled certificate, never the original. Then check the mother's name is spelled the same way on it as on her passport; that mismatch is the single most common minor-OCI rejection.

        Any name difference at all, a dropped middle name, a single letter, surname at marriage, must go in the OCI form as a previous name with a notarized affidavit. Leaving it out is a listed rejection cause.