Overseas Citizen of India Scheme

Notice for OCI cardholders dated 28 July, 2021

Important Notice for OCI card holders

Extension of timeline for handwritten travel document/PIO cards up till 31st December, 2022

Press Release for Re-issuance of OCI card

1. Government of India has decided to grant extension of time line for re-issuance of OCI cards in respect of OCI card holders, who may be required to get their OCI card re-issued, has been extended till 31^st December 2021 to all eligible foreigners to get their OCI cards re-issued.

2. Requirement of carrying old and new passports along with the OCI card has been done away. Henceforth, the OCI Card holders traveling on the strength of their existing OCI card bearing old passport number are not required to carry their old passport.  However, carrying new passport is mandatory.

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Notice for OCI Applicants

OCI applications are to be submitted online, OCI Card applicants are required to bring the originals of the supporting documents to the Embassy for verification. No hardcopies or printout of the application or the photocopies of the uploaded documents are required to be submitted.

Hence, the OCI applicants may come to the Embassy with the following documents:

Proof of online submission of the OCI application which may carry the File Reference Number.

All originals of supporting documents uploaded for OCI application

Original Receipt of fee the payment made.

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Notice for OCI Applicants

Notice for registration as OCI cardholder under section 7A(1)(d) of Citizenship Act, 1955 (as spouse of foreign origin of a citizen of India or spouse of a foreign origin of an OCI Cardholder).

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It has been decided by the Government of India that all the OCI applicants for registration as spouse of foreign origin of a citizen of India or spouse of a foreign origin of an OCI Cardholder under section 7(1)(d) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, will be required to appear for a personal interview.

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Important Notice for Conversion of valid PIO Card to OCI Card

As per MHA Notification dated 09/01/2015 all PIO Card holders with a valid PIO Card as on 09/01/2015 are deemed to be OCI cardholders. For conversion of PIO to OCI card, they will have to upload only the following two documents with his/her application;

1. 1.Copy of the valid Passport
2. 2.Copy of the PIO Card

The applicants can submit the applications online from anywhere. The grant of OCI Card in lieu of PIO Card will be subject to payment of conversion fee of US Dollars 100/- (US Dollars one hundred only).

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Important notice for Renewal of OCI card

PRESS RELEASE

        The following OCI guidelines have been in force since 2005:

        OCI card needs to be re-issued each time a new passport is acquired by the cardholder up to the age of 20 years.

        OCI card is required to be re-issued once on acquiring a new passport after completing 50 years of age.

        Re-issuance of OCI card is not required each time a passport is issued to a cardholder between 21 and 50 years of age.

2.     This is to inform that Government of India has decided to grant temporary relaxation till 30^th June 2021 in the following cases:

• In case an OCI card holder below the age of 20 years has not got the OCI card re-issued on change of passport, he/she may travel on the strength of his/her existing OCI card bearing old passport number subject to the condition that along with the new passport, the OCI cardholder carries old passport mentioned in the OCI card.

• In case an OCI card holder who has attained the age of 50 years and has got his/her passport renewed subsequently but has not got his/her OCI card re-issued on renewal of his/her passport, he/she may travel on the strength of the existing OCI card along with the old and new passports.

3.      It is, however, advised that OCI cardholders may take steps to comply with the existing OCI guidelines in Para 1 above and renew their OCI cards as required by the rules.

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CONVERSION OF PIO CARDS TO OCI CARDS-

This is to inform that a decision has been taken in the Government of India, according to which the quantum of fee to be charged for OCI card in lieu of PIO Card will be US Dollars 100/-. These charges will be effective for all such applications which have been filled after 31.12.2017. Government of India had recently announced that ICAO will accept only machine readable travel documents, hence, existing PIO Card, which are handwritten will therefore, become invalid. Thus, it will be necessary upon PIO Cardholders to obtain machine readable OCI Cards in lieu of handwritten PIO Cards before 30^th September, 2020 to avoid any inconvenience. Attache(Consular) Embassy of India Panama

Government of India had recently announced the introduction of the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) Scheme commonly known as ‘Dual Citizenship’.  Under this scheme foreigners of Indian origin, subject to certain conditions, can be registered as overseas citizens of India.  The Embassy of India, Panama is happy to announce that the process of OCI registration is being started for all eligible applicants with immediate effect.

Registered OCIs shall be entitled to following benefits:

• Multiple entry, multi-purpose life long visa to visit India;
• Exemption from reporting to Police authorities for any length of stay in India; and
• Parity with NRIs in financial, economic and educational fields except in the acquisition of agricultural or plantation properties.

Persons registered as OCI have, however, not been given any voting rights, election to Lok Sabha / Rajya Sabha / Legislative Assembly / Council, holding Constitutional posts such as President, Vice President, Judge of Supreme Court/High Court etc.

Details about the OCI Scheme including procedure for applying, eligibility and benefits, etc. can be accessed directly from the website of the Ministry of Home Affairs at https://passport.gov.in/oci/

Registration as OCI can be made online here.  Please click link for stepwise guidelines for filling the application form.  These may be perused so that there is no mistake in submission of application which could cause delay in processing.

Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India have launched an on-line Supplemental Service -OCI Miscellaneous Services with effect from the January 01,2008 regarding facilities/procedures for re-issuance of OCI registration certificate/visa in certain situations viz:

• In case of issuance of new passport.
• In case ofchangeofpersonal particulars viz. nationality etc.,
• In case of loss/damage of OCI registration certificate/visa.
• In case of filling of wrong personal particulars while submitting online applications viz. llame, father's llame, date ofbirth etc.,
• In case of manually filled in applications (discontinued now) mistakes have been committed by the Indian Mission/PostlOffice while entering the personal particulars.
• In caseofchangeofaddress/occupation

The detailed instructions/procedures and fees payable regarding the OCI Miscellaneous Services have been made available on the Ministry' s website https://passport.gov.in/oci/OnlineOCIMiscMain.jsp

In case of doubt or if any clarification is required, please contact Embassy of India, Panama (Tel. 507- 2642416 /  2643043 / 2648780).

All local documents issued by a foreign authority are required to be duly apostilled/authenticated by the Ministry of External Relations(Foreign Affairs) of the respective country and documents (other than those which are in English) are to be submitted alongwith its English translation for processing the application.

Fee structure of OCI: