Centre eases rules for renewal of OCI cards

Overseas Citizens of India will now be required to renew their cards only once at the age of 20 instead of multiple times, the Centre announced on Thursday.

Overseas Citizenship of India is an immigration status that allows foreigners of Indian-origin to live and work in India indefinitely. This status is not available to applicants whose parents, grandparents or great-grandparents are from Pakistan. Before the OCI scheme was launched in 2005, members of the diaspora could obtain Person of Indian Origin status.

With its latest announcement, the home ministry has simplified the rules for issuing OCI cards, as earlier they had to be renewed each time the person got a new passport till the age of 20. After the person turns 50, the OCI card had to be renewed again “in view of biological changes in the face of the applicant”.