India extends timeline for re-issuance of OCI card

• Pramod Thomas
• 04 January, 2022

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By: Pramod Thomas

INDIA has extended the timeline for the re-issuance of Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card by one year till Dec 31, 2022.

The mandatory requirement of re-issuance of an OCI card, each time a new passport is issued to a foreigner up to 20 years of age and once after completing 50 years, has also been dispensed with.

“In continuation to an earlier press release dated April 19, 2021, it has been decided that all OCI cardholders who are required to get their OCI card re-issued once a new passport is issued after completing 20 years of age, are given further time to do so by 31 December 2022,” the Indian High Commission in London said in a statement on Friday (31).

“Such OCI cardholders will be allowed to travel on the strength of their existing OCI cards bearing old passport number and new passport.”

OCI cardholders refer to people who have relinquished their Indian citizenship, surrendered their passports, obtained the citizenship of the country where they have been residing but seek certain privileges in India. They request and apply for the OCI card on the basis of having been erstwhile citizens of India.

OCI is a form of permanent residency available to people of Indian origin and their spouses which allows them to live and work in India indefinitely.

According to the statement, an OCI cardholder is required to get the OCI card re-issued only once when a new passport is issued after completing 20 years of age, the release said.

An OCI cardholder is required to upload online a copy of the new passport and a recent photo each time a new passport is issued up to 20 years of age and once after completing 50 years of age.

The uploading of these documents may be done within three months of receipt of the new passport, the High Commission said.

Foreign spouse of an Indian citizen or spouse of foreign origin of an OCI cardholder is required to upload a copy of the new passport and a recent photo online each time a new passport is issued.

This has to be done along with a declaration on subsisting of marriage, copy of the Indian passport of the Indian spouse/passport and OCI card of the OCI cardholder spouse.

Uploading of copies of new passports, photos and other documents of an OCI cardholder or their foreign origin spouse can be done through ‘OCI Miscellaneous Services’ section at the ociservices website, the statement further said.

The requirement of carrying old and new passports, along with the OCI card, has also been removed.

An OCI cardholder travelling with an OCI card bearing old passport number is not required to carry the old passport. However, carrying the new (current) passport is mandatory, the release said.

As of 2020, there are 6 million holders of OCI cards among the Indian Overseas diaspora. The OCI scheme was introduced by The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2005 in response to demands for dual citizenship by the Indian diaspora.

Interestingly, more than 600,000 Indians gave up their citizenship during the last five years, union minister of state for home Nityanand Rai informed the Lok Sabha.

While 133,000 Indians gave up citizenship in 2017, it was 134,000 in 2018, 144,000 in 2019, 85,248 in 2020 and 111,000 in 2021 until 30 September. The dip during 2020 was because of the pandemic, he revealed.