MHA: OCI card of convicted persons will be cancelled

The OCI scheme was introduced in August 2005.

By: Express News Service
New Delhi | Updated: August 13, 2025 06:22 AM IST

An OCI card 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 India.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued a gazetted notification saying that the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card, which allows Indian-origin foreign nationals to visit the home country without visa, will be cancelled if anyone is sentenced to jail for a term not less than two years or has been named in a charge sheet for an offence entailing punishment of imprisonment for seven years or more.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by the clause (da) of section 7D of the Citizenship Act, 1955 (57 of 1955), the Central Government hereby states that an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) registration shall be liable to get cancelled when a person has been sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than two years or has been charge-sheeted for an offence entailing punishment of imprisonment for seven years or more,” the notification said.