The Government of India, on application, may register any person as an Overseas Citizen of India, if the person: These relaxed OCI renewal guidelines reduce the administrative burden caused by multiple OCI renewals. However, every time the passport is renewed before age 20 and when the passport is renewed for the first time after age 50, a copy of the current passport along with the current passport-sized photo needs to be uploaded onto the OCI online portal. On 15 April 2021, the number of times OCI needs to be renewed got reduced down to only once, when the passport is renewed for the first time after age 20. Also, OCI holders now need to register with the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) via email upon every change of their permanent home address or occupation. In order to perform certain activities or visit certain areas in India, OCI holders now require a Protected Area Permit, a requirement for PIO holders which OCI never had since its launch in 2006. On 4 March 2021, the rights of OCI holders were slightly curtailed. In March 2020, visa-free travel granted to OCI holders was put on hold until 15 April due to the coronavirus pandemic. The OCI card (the blue booklet) in conjunction with a valid foreign passport is sufficient to travel to and from India.
This requirement was done away with that day and OCI card holders no longer require the lifetime visa stamp passport.
īefore 9 January 2015, travelers holding OCI card were required to carry the passport which contained the lifelong "U" visa stamp while traveling to India. The OCI program was launched during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention held in Hyderabad on 9 January 2006.
On the recommendations of a High-Level Committee on Indian Diaspora, the Government of India decided to register Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) of a certain category, as has been specified in the Section 7A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, as Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) cardholders, by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003. Indian authorities have interpreted the law to mean a person cannot have a second country's passport simultaneously with an Indian one - even in the case of a child who is claimed by another country as a citizen of that country, and who may be required by the laws of the other country to use one of its passports for foreign travel (such as a child born in United States or in Canada to Indian parents), and the Indian courts have given the executive branch wide discretion over this matter. The Constitution of India does not permit dual citizenship (under article 9 of The Indian Constitution) in India.
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