OCI card for wife from Indian Embassy in Bern

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1
Hello All,

I found this forum a very useful tool when looking up other people's experiences with the Overseas Citizen of India [OCI] application process with the Indian embassy in Bern. I just wanted to share my experience so it may come in useful for others looking up this topic on search engines.

My wife (non-EU, non-Swiss) and I were married for a little over two years and living in a central Swiss canton for about a year and a half when we applied around June 2022. There is a good document on the embassy website that summarizes everything you need to do. We got a call from the Indian embassy about a month later inviting us for an interview, and during the call, the embassy official realized that we were on an L permit. We were then told that we need to wait for a B permit before they could proceed. This rule is only found in a deep dive of the embassy website not in an immediately obvious location.

We then got our B permit a few months later, sent in a photocopy by post and were invited for an interview one week later. The interview was fairly straightforward and we were told we'd receive the OCI card in about 8 weeks. The actual card arrived after 7 weeks.

Just curious if this lines up with any other recent applicants' experiences?

2

What is it and why does your wife need one?

3
It's kind of a permanent residency. You can stay in India indefinitely and also work or study anywhere you like. It's pretty convenient if we ever move to India, she won't be restricted in what she can do and how long she can stay.

4
Hey, thanks for the post. I would like to apply OCI for my wife and toddler (both swiss).

can u tell us what kind of questions are asked and if the interview is in English or any Indian language?

5
The interview is in English. The questions are super simple, when you got married, how long have you known each other, has the applicant been to India, do you like anything about India and so on. They're just checking to see that it's a real marriage and the person is at least somewhat interested in the country before being granted the OCI status.