Advisory For Indian Passport Holders
Renunciation of Indian Citizenship / Surrender of Indian Passports
The Indian Citizenship Act, 1955, does not allow dual citizenship. Holding / acquiring Indian Passport / travelling on Indian passport after acquisition of foreign citizenship constitutes an offence under the Indian Citizenship Act 1955 and Indian Passport Act, 1967, and attracts penalties. Persons of Indian Origin who have acquired foreign Nationality are therefore required to surrender their Indian passports to the nearest Indian Mission/Post immediately after acquisition of foreign citizenship.
Indian citizens coming to Vietnam may please note that Visa-on-Arrival is NOT a norm and visitors are advised to be careful about this before travelling to Vietnam. A local Sponsor / Sponsorship Letter is mandatory. This can be from a Vietnam business establishment, or a business registered in Vietnam or from a person who has a Resident Permit or from a local tour operator.
Indian citizens working or living in Southern Vietnam must register themselves on our website, www.india-consulate.org.vn
In case of loss or damage of passport, the fact and circumstances should be immediately reported to the nearest Indian Mission and the local police. In order to expedite issue of a new passport in such cases, Indian nationals are advised to keep a photocopy of the data pages of your passport and valid visas.
Indian citizens living in Vietnam are advised to apply for urgent re-issuance of their passports in the following cases:-
(i) Handwritten Passports
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has set a deadline of the 24th November, 2015 for globally phasing out of all non-Machine Readable Passports (MRPs). Foreign Governments may deny Visa or entry to any person travelling on a non-Machine Readable Passport. The Government of India has been issuing Machine Readable Passports since 2001. However, the Passports issued before 2001 and particularly those issued during mid 1990s with a validity of 20 years will fall in the category of non-MRPs. All handwritten passports with pasted photographs are also considered non-MRPs. Indian citizens are advised to apply for re-issue of their passports to avoid any inconvenience in obtaining valid visa for international travel.
(ii) Passport Valid for Less Than Six Months
Many international travellers may not realise that having an unexpired passport is sometimes not enough to obtain Visas or to enter certain foreign countries. Indian citizens travelling on Passports which may expire in less than six months should renew their passports before any upcoming international travel.
(iii) Exhaustion of Visa Pages
Some countries do not accept passports which may have fewer than two pages remaining. Please check your passport to ensure that you have enough visa pages. There is no provision of additional booklets/pages and you will be required to apply reissuance of passport by following standard procedures. Frequent travellers may opt for Jumbo Passport containing 64 pages.
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