Originally Posted by SeeBuyFly

I am a former Indian citizen with an OCI card. My spouse has a spousal PIO card. While current PIO cards still work, holders can have it replaced with an OCI card for free (except a $20 Cox & Kings service fee). We fell for this too-good-to-be-true "FREE offer". Like many free offers, it was bait-and-switch.

The GoI web pages and the web-fillable application form list the documents required---almost nothing is required (reasonable since it is essentially a 1-to-1 exchange). CKGS lists many more documents required. We supplied everything that CGKS listed, including the original PIO card (the consulate web page says submit only a copy, but CKGS says submit the original).

As soon as they received the application, CKGS e-mailed us with a list of additional demands. (Note that the instructions make clear that the Indian govt has the right to request additional documents, but these demands were made by CKGS, not the consulate, because the application was never forwarded to the consulate.) They now wanted all documents required for a fresh OCI application. They wanted us to 'provide a notarized certificate that we live together', which is apparently not the same as a marriage certificate. (This was not required at the time of the original PIO application in 2011.) CKGS also wanted me to pay them $45 to renounce MY Indian citizenship. (Apparently this is a new requirement---I switched citizenship way back in the 1990s, so it was not required at the time of my spouse's PIO application in 2011. Note that I am not the applicant for PIO-to-OCI, my spouse is.)

We wrote back saying we would not supply documents that were not required according to GoI instructions or CKGS's own web page checklist. We requested CKGS to return the PIO card.

That was five weeks ago. They have not responded at all in spite of e-mails and phone calls. Apparently they have confiscated the PIO card, although they don't say that either; they just don't say anything. The CKGS phone operators are very polite, they "escalate" and "start a case" but nothing ever happens.

It is impossible to contact the Indian consulate by phone, but we wrote to them using their web form and also via fax, asking for their help in dealing with Cox & Kings. No response.

I thought this might be useful to others who might be lured into applying for a 'free' exchange of their PIO for an OCI.