Citizenship by Investment for Indian Citizens: OCI, LRS & FEMA Explained

The dual citizenship question — answered properly

India does not permit dual citizenship. Under the Citizenship Act, 1955, voluntarily acquiring a foreign citizenship means your Indian citizenship terminates, and the Passports Act requires you to surrender the Indian passport. This is the single most important fact in Indian CBI planning — and it is why the decision splits into two clean strategies: acquire foreign residency (keep the Indian passport) or acquire foreign citizenship (convert to OCI status).

OCI: what you keep and what you lose

The Overseas Citizen of India card gives lifelong visa-free entry to India, indefinite stay, and parity with NRIs for financial and property matters. You keep the right to live and do business in India. You lose: voting rights, government office, and the ability to buy agricultural land. For most globally mobile families, OCI preserves everything they actually use. The sequence — new passport, Indian passport surrender certificate, OCI application — takes 3–6 months and we manage it end to end.

LRS: moving the money legally

The Liberalised Remittance Scheme allows each resident individual to remit up to USD 250,000 per financial year for permitted capital transactions. A $250,000 St. Kitts donation therefore fits within one person's annual limit — but a family application or a $400,000 Turkish property needs planning: remit across two family members (each has their own $250,000 limit), split across financial years (April–March), or fund from existing NRI/overseas assets outside LRS.

TCS: the 20% cash-flow surprise

Banks collect Tax Collected at Source on LRS remittances — 20% above the ₹10 lakh annual threshold for investment-type remittances. On a $250,000 remittance, that is roughly $48,000 collected upfront. Critically, TCS is not a cost: it is an advance tax credit, fully adjustable against your income tax liability or refundable at filing. Budget for the cash-flow, claim it back at return time.

FEMA compliance and clean documentation

Every rupee must leave through authorised dealer banks under LRS with Form A2 declarations and a clean audit trail — CBI donations and qualifying property purchases are permissible capital account transactions when routed correctly. What triggers problems: cash structures, third-party payments, hawala shortcuts, or misdeclared purposes. Our India files ship with CA-certified source-of-funds packs that satisfy both the RBI trail and the citizenship unit's due diligence in one preparation.

The best programmes for Indian families

Keeping the Indian passport: UAE Golden Visa (3-hour flight, 0% tax, 2–8 week processing) or Greece/Portugal Golden Visas for Europe. Ready to switch to OCI: Grenada is the standout — the E-2 treaty gives Indian entrepreneurs a US route that EB-5 backlogs deny them, children to 30 and parents are included, and the passport opens 146+ destinations. St. Kitts suits pure travel freedom; Portugal suits families targeting an EU passport within 6–7 years.

We have structured LRS-compliant applications for Indian families across every programme we offer. Book a free, confidential assessment.