If you hold an OCI card, you are a foreign citizen — and the Government of Gujarat does not publish a change of name or surname of a foreign national in the Gujarat Gazette. Your OCI card is re-issued in the name on your current foreign passport, using proof of the change from the country that issued it. Here is the right route, and the few Indian-side jobs we can genuinely help with.
વિદેશી નાગરિકના નામ/અટક બદલી અંગેના ફેરફારને પ્રસિધ્ધિ આપવામાં આવતી નથી.
“A change of name / surname of a foreign citizen is not published.” An OCI card is issued only to foreign citizens of Indian origin, so every OCI holder falls under this rule. Anyone offering a “Gujarat Gazette for your OCI” is selling something the Government will not publish. The full list of what the Gazette does not publish is here.
Your OCI card is tied to your foreign passport. When your name changes — after marriage, divorce or by choice — the order is always the same:
Nothing in this route goes through the Gujarat Government Press. The Gazette that matters, if any, is the one your own country uses — not the Gujarat Gazette.
Each mission publishes its own checklist, and they differ in detail, so always download the current checklist from the embassy or consulate that serves you. Typically you will be asked for:
Examples of published mission checklists: High Commission of India, Wellington · Embassy of India, Bern. Requirements change; the checklist of your own mission is what counts.
The real headache for many OCI holders is not the card — it is the Indian paperwork left behind from before you changed citizenship or name: a bank account, a demat or PF account, a property record in Gujarat, a school or university certificate. Those still show the old name.
A Gujarat Gazette cannot fix that for you, for the reason above. What Indian offices usually work with instead is your foreign passport and OCI card, the foreign change-of-name document (marriage certificate, deed poll, court order), and often a “one and same person” affidavit linking the two names. Each office decides what it will accept under its own rules, so ask that office for its list before you prepare anything.
No. The Government does not publish a change of name or surname of a foreign national in the Gujarat Gazette, and every OCI cardholder is a foreign citizen. Your OCI card is re-issued in the name on your current foreign passport, through the Government of India's OCI services.
Change your name in your country of citizenship, get a new foreign passport in that name, then apply for an OCI re-issue through the Indian embassy, high commission or consulate that serves you, with proof of the change such as a marriage certificate or the change-of-name document your country issued.
It can cause questions at immigration and verification. The fix is an OCI re-issue on your new passport. Check your mission's current checklist and apply before you travel if you can.
Indian offices usually work with your foreign passport, OCI card, the foreign change-of-name document and often a 'one and same person' affidavit. Each office has its own rules, so ask it for its list first. We can draft the affidavit to match your passport.
No. If you never took another citizenship you are an Indian citizen living abroad (an NRI), and a Gujarat Gazette name change is possible. See our NRI name change service.
No. We do not sell a Gujarat Gazette for an OCI holder's own name change, because the Government will not publish it.
Tell us your citizenship, the names on your passport, OCI and Indian records, and what you need fixed. We reply on WhatsApp with an honest answer — including when we are not the right people.
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Normal plan: your published Gujarat Gazette within 60 working days. Express: within 30 working days — counted from the working day after full payment is received and your application number is generated, and we confirm your exact end date in writing. Working days are days the Gazette Department, Rajkot is open; Sundays, 2nd and 4th Saturdays and Government of Gujarat public holidays are not counted. If we miss your window you get a 100% refund of your invoice within 24 hours — no deduction for the Government fee, e-stamp, notary or drafting — and we still deliver your Gazette at no further service charge. In practice most of our filed gazettes publish within about 15 days of filing. The full terms are sent with your quote, before you pay.
