OCI card renewal in the USA (2026): you don't need a new card — link your new passport online

Searching for “OCI card renewal” after a new US passport? The short answer: you don't need a new OCI card. Since June 2026, a passport change no longer means a fresh OCI booklet — your existing OCI is linked to the new passport online, and a digital e-OCI can be issued. This guide covers how that works from the USA: the 90-day rule, what to send, what you receive and paying in US dollars. For the service itself, see OCI holders in the USA.

What changed

Before June 2026, some passport changes meant applying for a fresh OCI card and waiting for a new booklet. For a passport change, that step has gone: the passport particulars are updated against your existing OCI record on the official Government of India OCI system, and the updated card is issued as an e-OCI you download.

What did not change: the update itself still needs to be made, and the timing still matters.

The 90-day rule — counted from the issue date

The update is generally made within 90 days of your new passport's issue date — the date printed on the passport, not the day it arrived in the mail and not your travel date.

Within that window, the OCI Link is filed online from anywhere in the United States: no consulate visit, no VFS appointment and nothing posted. Our fee is £100.

What to send

Phone photos are fine — no originals, nothing posted: the new passport's photo page; the old passport's photo page (the one linked to your OCI); your OCI card, front and back; a recent passport-style photo; and your signature on plain white paper.

We format the photo and signature to the portal's specification and check each document before anything is filed.

What you receive

We file within 24 to 48 hours of receiving your documents and email you confirmation of the submission. Once the update is approved, the e-OCI — the digital copy of your OCI for your phone — reaches you by email if you added it: +£25 with OCI Link, or £50 on its own. There is no fixed government timeline for the approval step.

Past 90 days

Past 90 days, the route depends on where your OCI was issued and the rules of the Indian mission that covers your state. Message us with your passport issue date and the mission that issued your OCI — we tell you the route before anything is paid.

Paying in US dollars

You can pay in US$ at checkout. The £100 fee is converted once and the rate is fixed for your checkout session, so the amount you see is the amount charged. Our prices are set in pounds, and the receipt shows both.