Overseas Citizenship of India card-holders, in certain age groups, can travel to India even if they have not re-registered it after the issuance of their new passport, as the Home Ministry has relaxed travel conditions till June 30, 2020.
The foreigner’s division of the Home Ministry on December 17th issued an order saying “this ministry has been informed that immigration authorities /airlines in some countries are not allowing OCI card-holders to travel to India on the following grounds: The OCI card-holder has got the OCI card re-issued mandatorily after attaining 50 years of age, or the OCI card-holder below 20 years of age has got this/her OCI card re-issued on renewal of passport”.
Further adding on, in order to facilitate OCI card-holders, the above requirement has been relaxed till 30th June 2020 as per the Home Ministry instructions dated December 17th 2019 within the grace period- up to June 30th 2020- card-holders of the two above mentioned categories have been advised to get a new card issued. Such card-holders are advised to carry existing OCI card along with old and new passport. OCI card-holders are given benefit on par with non-resident Indian in financial, economic and educational fields, except in the acquisition of agricultural or plantation properties.
Instances have been brought to the notice of MoCA that people traveling with OCI card with renewed/new passports are facing difficulties. MHA has issued relaxation for such OCI card holders till 30th June, 2020. pic.twitter.com/ln1dVFlfa7
— Ministry of Civil Aviation (@MoCA_GoI) December 27, 2019
The Overseas Citizenship of India card-holders are given multiple benefits.
Overseas Citizenship of India card-holders are given free multiple entry and multi-purpose life-long visa to visit India and are also exempted from reporting to Police authorities for any length of stay in India. The ministry has further informed that instructions regarding re-issuance of OCI card on renewal of passport or attaining specified age is a requirement expected to be timely complied with by the OCI card-holders.
Similarly, the aviation ministry tweeted that the Home Ministry request to the Ministry of External Affairs, stating “instances have been brought to the notice of MoCA that people travelling with OCI card with renewed/new passports are facing difficulties. The Home Ministry has issued relaxation for such OCI card-holders”.
