Modiji to announce merger of PIO-OCI Cards

NEW YORK: The Indian government has decided to make into law a long-standing demand of the Indian American community: to merge the OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) and PIO (Person of Indian Origin) cards. The announcement will be made by the prime minister Narendra Modi when he visits the US later this week.

The UPA government had decided couple of years back to merge the cards but could not make it a reality. The Economic Times reported that the Principal Secretary to Modi, Nripendra Misra, had convened a meeting of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs officials on Tuesday to brainstorm the matter ahead of the prime minister’s trip.

It was decided that there will be a speedy implementation of the merger of the two cards to facilitate travel of Indians staying abroad and their participation in various activities in India

FluteHolder wrote:There was some news about granting dual citizenship for OCI card holders and possibly allowing to vote in Indian elections may be.

There were some NRI/OCI members are who are interested in helping/nation building etc but not able to do so due to citizenship issues.

Marathadi-Saamiyaar wrote:

FluteHolder wrote:There was some news about granting dual citizenship for OCI card holders and possibly allowing to vote in Indian elections may be.

There were some NRI/OCI members are who are interested in helping/nation building etc but not able to do so due to citizenship issues.

Here is news for you folks...

The so-called OCI now has to be renewed every 10 years once you reach 50 or reapplied at 20 if you received it before that. So, the OCI is "permanent" ONLY for the 20 to 50 range.

Will see what Modi ji will do - if at all anything.

truthbetold wrote:Can some one expand on pio and oci.  Heard the terms.

What do they mean in terms of visa and travel? Owning property in India? Voting? Contesting elections? Inheritence rights?

Special question for cd:
Which of these two makes you a member of Congress party? Can rss incorporate the other group?

New Delhi: All PIO (Person of Indian Origin) cards are now valid for the lifetime of the cardholder, instead of 15 years, as promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his address at the Madison Square Garden in New York City on September 28, 2014.

Bittu wrote:here you go, bytches.