New Delhi — All Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) card-holders are deemed to be Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) card-holders with effect from Jan. 9 with the Indian government issuing a notification in this regard.
“The PIO card notification has been withdrawn with immediate effect and further, it has been notified that all existing PIO card-holders will be deemed to be OCI card-holders. Now only one OCI card with enhanced benefits is in existence,” a home ministry statement said.
On Jan. 6, the government had promulgated an ordinance that seeks to merge the PIO and OCI schemes, by which PIOs would also get life-long Indian visas.
The amendments through the ordinance to the Citizenship Act ensured that PIOs would get benefits like life-long visas and exemption from appearing before the local police station on every visit.
The move came as per the promise made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visits to the U.S. and Australia that the PIO and OCI cards would be merged and the Indian diaspora would be given the maximum possible benefits.
PIO and OCI cards used to exist simultaneously, leading to a lot of confusion among the PIOs residing abroad. The Jan. 9 notification is set to fulfill a long-cherished demand of the Indian diaspora abroad.
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