Wings Travels processes OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) card applications for Canadian citizens of Indian origin and their spouses. Lifetime validity, unrestricted visit/work/study rights in India (excluding agricultural land purchase and government employment).
An OCI card is not a visa and it is worth being precise about what it is, because the misunderstanding causes real problems at check-in. It is a lifetime entry authorisation for people of Indian origin and their spouses, granting visa-free travel to India and most residency rights short of voting, agricultural land ownership, and public office. What it is not is Indian citizenship — India does not permit dual nationality, and holding an OCI card does not restore it.
The practical trap is the passport linkage. Your OCI card is tied to the passport it was issued against, and you must carry both. When you renew your Canadian passport, the OCI card does not automatically follow, and travellers are regularly stopped at check-in in Calgary holding a valid OCI card and a new passport that it no longer references.
Eligibility runs wider than most people assume. Former Indian citizens qualify, but so do their children and grandchildren, and so do foreign-national spouses of Indian citizens or existing OCI holders subject to the marriage duration requirement. Many Canadian-born children of Indian-origin parents are eligible without their families realising it, and applying while they are children is considerably simpler than doing so later.
| Processing time | 8-12 weeks via BLS Canada |
|---|---|
| Embassy/consular fee | CAD $360 (adults) / $240 (minors) + Wings processing |
| Validity | Varies by visa type — typically 30 days to 10 years |
| Calgary biometrics | Required for most; we coordinate appointment booking |
OCI applications are document-assembly problems rather than persuasion problems, and they fail on paperwork rather than on merit. We confirm eligibility across the whole family before anyone applies, since children and grandchildren frequently qualify without the family realising it, then build the document set including ancestral records and renunciation evidence, reconcile name discrepancies with the right supporting documents, and handle passport re-linkage for existing cardholders. We will also tell you plainly when a long-term tourist visa would serve you better than an OCI application.
Before you file
The card is tied to a specific passport. Renew the passport and the linkage must be updated, or you can be denied boarding while holding a card that is itself perfectly valid. This is the most common OCI problem we see, and it surfaces at the airport.
Former Indian citizens must evidence surrender or renunciation of Indian nationality. Applications without it stall indefinitely, and the certificate itself takes time to obtain, so it belongs at the start of the process rather than partway through.
Applications based on a parent or grandparent require that person's Indian documents, which may be decades old and held by relatives overseas. Gathering these is usually the longest part of the whole process. Start there.
Spelling differences between a birth certificate, a marriage certificate, and a current passport — particularly after marriage or transliteration — must be reconciled with supporting evidence, or the application halts on an apparent identity discrepancy.
FAQ
No. India does not allow dual nationality. An OCI card gives lifetime visa-free entry and most residency rights, but excludes voting, public office, agricultural land ownership, and an Indian passport. You remain solely a Canadian citizen.
The card is linked to the passport it was issued against, so the linkage must be updated. Travellers are regularly refused boarding holding a valid OCI card alongside a new passport it no longer references. Deal with this before you book travel, not after.
Usually yes. Children and grandchildren of former Indian citizens are generally eligible, as are foreign-national spouses subject to the marriage duration requirement. Applying while they are children is simpler than doing it later, and many families are unaware they qualify.
Considerably longer than a tourist visa — plan in months rather than weeks. The gating factor is usually assembling ancestral documents and the renunciation certificate rather than processing itself, which is why the document work should start well before you intend to travel.
Yes. Evidence of surrender or renunciation is required regardless of how long ago it happened, and obtaining it retrospectively takes time. Treat it as the first step of the application rather than a formality to sort out at the end.
Talk to an agent
Sumeet and our Calgary team handle every enquiry in under 45 minutes during business hours. Routed quotes before the day ends.