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In the wake of several Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card holders complaining about being reclassified as “foreigners”, the Ministry of External Affairs on Saturday (September 28) said that there were no changes made to the OCI rules.
In a post on X, the Consulate General of India, New York clarified that the provisions of a gazette notification from 2021 continue to remain in force, and that “no new change has been introduced in the recent past for OCI card holders”.
Here are the privileges that OCI card holders enjoy, and a brief history of the scheme.
Introduced in August 2005, the OCI scheme provides for registration of all Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) who were citizens of India on January 26, 1950, or thereafter, or were eligible to become citizens of India on the said date. While tabling the legislation in Parliament, Home Minister LK Advani had said that the purpose of the Bill was to introduce dual citizenship for the Indian diaspora.
An OCI card holder — essentially a foreign passport holder — gets a multiple entry, multi-purpose life-long visa for visiting India, and is exempt from registration with local police authority for any length of stay in the country. As per government records, there were more than 45 lakh registered OCI card holders in 2023, from 129 countries. The US topped the list with over 16.8 lakh OCI card holders, followed by the UK (9.34 lakh), Australia (4.94 lakh) and Canada (4.18 lakh).
Initially, an OCI card holder was entitled to general parity with Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) with respect to availing facilities in economic, financial, and educational fields, except for in matters relating to the acquisition of agricultural or plantation properties. NRIs are Indian citizens who are permanent residents of a foreign state.
On March 4, 2021, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a gazette notification amending the rules regarding OCI card holders. They remain in place today.
These rules required OCI card holders to seek permission or a permit to visit protected areas in India. The same restrictions apply to foreign nationals visiting Jammu & Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh.
A series of new restrictions were also introduced, including a requirement for OCIs to secure a special permit to undertake “any research”, to undertake any “missionary” or “Tablighi” or “journalistic activities” or to visit any area in India notified as “protected”, “restricted” or “prohibited”.
Lastly, the notification put OCIs at par with “foreign nationals” in respect of “all other economic, financial and educational fields” for the purposes of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 2003 although past circulars by the Reserve Bank of India under FEMA continued to hold ground. This reversed the position wherein OCIs were equated to NRIs for the purposes of their economic, financial and educational rights.
No. The 2021 notification superseded three earlier notifications issued on April 11, 2005, January 5, 2007, and January 5, 2009, which laid down the rights of the OCIs.
The April 11, 2005, order enabled multiple-entry lifelong visas for OCIs, exemption from FRRO registration for any length of stay, and parity with NRIs with respect to all facilities economic, educational and financial fields, except agricultural and plantation properties.
On January 6, 2007, some new clauses allowed OCIs to be treated at par with NRIs with respect to inter-country adoption, at par with Indian citizens in airfare in domestic sectors, and also allowed for the same entry fee as domestic visitors to wildlife sanctuaries and parks.
Another set of amendments in January 2009, allowed OCIs parity with NRIs with respect to entry fee at monuments and historical sites, museums; parity with NRIs with respect to professions such as doctors, CAs, advocates and architects; and parity with NRIs to appear for all-India PMT, or other such tests.
An applicant is not eligible to get an OCI card if his/her parents or grandparents have ever been a citizen of Pakistan or Bangladesh. However, the spouse of foreign origin of a citizen of India or spouse of foreign origin of an OCI, whose marriage has been registered and subsisted for not less than two years, can apply for an OCI card. Foreign military personnel either in service or retired are also not entitled for grant of OCI.
The OCI card holder is not entitled to vote; to be a member of a Legislative Assembly or of a Legislative Council or of Parliament; to hold Indian constitutional posts such as that of the President, Vice President, Judge of the Supreme Court or High Court. He or she cannot normally hold employment in the government.
