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PIO & OCI SCHEMES MERGED

Indian Polity Citizenship
  • Published on: 02-Jan-15
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PIO & OCI SCHEMES MERGED
  • Ahead of the three-day Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Gujarat, the government has promulgated an ordinance that seeks to merge Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) schemes.
  • The step will help PIOs get lifelong visas and exemption from appearing before local police station on every visit.
  • The decision to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, was taken after many complaints were received from PIOs, whose major gripes were visits to local police stations and stringent visa norms that debarred them from buying property in India, in comparison to those holding OCI card.
    The PIO cardholders were now eligible for only 15-year visas in comparison to lifelong visas given to those having OCI cards.
    It will also do away with the clause of foreigners who marry Indians to continuously stay in the country for one year before they get an Indian citizenship.
  • It will give foreigners a relief of 30 days in a year when they can travel outside the country

The amendments to the Citizenship Act will give PIOs benefits like life-long visas and exemption from reporting to the police. PIO card-holders earlier got 15-year visas as opposed to life-long visas given under the OCI scheme. The ordinance will also do away with the clause of foreigners who marry Indians to continuously stay in the country for a year to get an Indian citizenship. They can now travel outside for 30 days in a year. The card merger could see a clamour for dual citizenship and voting facilities for NRIs abroad and even voting rights for persons of Indian origin. While the OCI scheme does loosely address the issue of dual citizenship since the Constitution provides that a person gets divested of Indian citizenship once he is a citizen of another country, non-resident Indians, or those living abroad with Indian passports, already have the voting facility but have to be physically present to exercise the right. 

By: Vishal
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