OCI card application from the USA
A new OCI registration from the United States costs $297 in total: $275 to the government, $3 to the Indian Community Welfare Fund and about $19 to VFS Global. Missions publish about one month for processing, and most people report five to eight weeks because the file goes to the Ministry of Home Affairs in India for final approval.
If you already hold an OCI card and have just renewed your passport, you probably do not need a new card at all.
Already have an OCI card and just renewed your passport?
Read the re-issue rules before you pay for anything. The card only has to be physically re-issued once, after your first passport past age 20. Everything else is a free upload. The rule that you must renew again at 50 is a misunderstanding, and it is repeated everywhere, including on some consulate pages.
What it costs
OCI, new registration
| Government fee | $275 |
| ICWF | $3 |
| VFS Global service fee | $19 |
| Total you pay the government and VFS | $297 |
OCI re-issue after the first passport past age 20
| Government fee (miscellaneous services) | $25 |
| ICWF | $3 |
| VFS Global service fee | $19 |
| Total you pay the government and VFS | $47 |
What we charge to prepare it
The full file, including the surrender-certificate sequencing that trips most people up.
- The full application prepared for your case
- Surrender certificate sequencing checked first
- Photo checked against the OCI specification
- Status decoded until the card is dispatched
Government and application-centre fees are separate and paid by you directly. See all prices.
The order matters more than the paperwork
This is where most OCI applications actually fail, and it is not about documents. If you have taken another citizenship, your Indian passport must already be surrendered and the surrender certificate in your hand before the OCI application goes in. The portal lists it as mandatory for anyone who surrendered in or after 2010, and it will not accept a surrender that is still in progress.
People discover this after the OCI application is rejected, then start the surrender, then wait again. See surrender certificates for that step, and talk to us before you start either one if you need both.
The photo catches almost everyone
The OCI portal wants a plain light background that is specifically not white, at least 51 by 51 mm, between 200 and 900 pixels square, as a JPEG under 200 KB. If you reuse the white-background photo from your passport application, it comes back. Details are in the photo guide.
Children born in the USA
A US-born child needs an apostilled birth certificate, and the apostille alone takes around five weeks before the OCI application starts. Both parents’ passports are needed, and where a parent held Indian citizenship, the surrendered passport and its certificate too. Start with the apostille, not the application.
What the status means
An OCI file moves through the mission and then to the Ministry in India, which is invisible from outside. Granted means approved. Printed means the card physically exists. Dispatched means it is moving. Long silences between Granted and Printed are normal and are not a sign that something has gone wrong.
Where these numbers come from
- OCI services portal, ociservices.gov.in — the document list, photo specification and fees (checked 2026-08-19)
- Embassy of India, Washington DC — the US fee schedule and ICWF (checked 2026-08-19)
We re-check every fee and rule on this page monthly. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it the same day.