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Home Ministry moots common card for NRIs
Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service

Dual benefits Presently, Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card prevail The PIO cardholders do not require a separate visa and can enter India with multiple-entry facility for 15 years or as long as their passports are valid The OCI card is a multi-purpose lifelong visa for visiting India that exempts the holders from police reporting

New Delhi, July 4
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will press for a common card for Indians living in foreign countries for decades. More than 20 million Indians are estimated to be living abroad. At present, two sets of cards prevail. One is called the Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card and the other is the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, while reviewing the working of the Foreigners Division of his ministry, today told officials that the two cards could be merged.

A Bill to amend the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955, was cleared by the Rajya Sabha in August 2013, and it can be taken up in the Lok Sabha. This allows for a common card that will be called ‘Overseas Indian Cardholder’. It defines an overseas Indian cardholder and aims at merging the two cards - which are issued to persons with varying eligibility and have separate benefits.

A PIO card holder has to be a person of Indian origin who is a citizen of any country other than Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Afghanistan, China and Nepal or a person who has held an Indian passport at any time or is the spouse of an Indian citizen or a person of Indian origin. The OCI card is for Indians who have taken up foreign nationalities, but who were eligible to become a citizen of India on January 26, 1950, or was a citizen of India after that date.

The country of the citizenship of the OCI applicant must also allow dual citizenships in some form and applications from citizens of Bangladesh and Pakistan are not allowed.

The PIO cardholders do not require a separate visa and can enter India with multiple-entry facility for 15 years or as long as their passports (issued by the foreign country) are valid. The OCI card is a multiple entry, multi-purpose lifelong visa for visiting India that exempts the holders from police reporting. The OCI cardholders have parity with non-resident Indians in respect of economic, financial and educational matters except in acquiring agricultural land.