Citizenship ordinance merging PIO, OCI schemes gets Prez nod

Jan 07 2015 : The Times of India (Chennai)

Citizenship ordinance merging PIO, OCI schemes gets Prez nod

New Delhi: TIMES NEWS NETWORK





PIOs Can Now Enjoy Life-long Indian Visa

A day before the Pravasi Bharatiya meet opens in the Gujarat capital of Gandhinagar, the President is said to have cleared an ordinance amending the Indian Citizenship Act to merge the Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) schemes.The amendments seek to relax the stipulation of one-year continuous stay in India by certain categories of applicants -including a PIO, a foreign national married to an Indian citizen and an OCI of five years -before they can seek Indian citizenship.The President has signed the citizenship ordinance, his press secretary Venu Rajamony was on Tuesday quoted by agencies as saying.Home ministry officials contacted by TOI confirmed the development. The amendments to the Citizenship Act will merge the benefits of PIO and OCI schemes and rename the combined project as Indian Overseas Cardholder scheme.PIOs would thus enjoy a life-long Indian visa, besides exemption from registering themselves with the FROFRRO if their stay in India exceeds six months. This is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assurance to the Indian diaspora at New York's Madison Square Garden, where he announced life-time visas for PIOs as well as merger of the PIO and OCI schemes.
The decision to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 was taken after a large number of representations were received from PIOs, com plaining about the requirement of reporting to police beyond 180 days of stay , within the next 30 days. Also, PIO cardholders were eligible for only 15-year visas, as against life-long visas provided to those holding OCI cards.