Tag: Home Ministry

NEW DELHI: As many as 3.2 lakh overseas citizens of India (OCI) cards were issued per annum between 2015 and 2021 as compared to an average 1.7 lakh cards issued per year between 2005 and 2014. This, a home ministry official said, pointed to the growing popularity of the OCI card scheme with the Indian diaspora “in view of the OCI application process being made online and various relaxations offered over the years to extend the coverage and benefits of the scheme”.
The government, through an executive order in 2019, had revised the OCI guidelines to require OCI cardholders to take special permission for undertaking activities like research, missionary work, Tablighi work, mountaineering and journalism and for visiting restricted, protected or prohibited areas while on a multiple entry, life-long visa, the changes were given statutory backing last week through a notification in the gazette. Prior to 2019, such permission was required only for research work.
“These are not new restrictions and were in existence and in the public domain since 2019. The notification does not further restrict the pursuit of these activities. OCI cardholders can do all major activities without any permission from government authorities,” a home ministry official said.
“This notification does not in any way take away the rights and privileges of an OCI cardholder as specified in various FEMA regulations,” he added. Stating that the government had facilitated foreigners eligible for or registered as OCI cardholder to a great extent, the official said these initiatives had led to the number of OCI cards issued doubling in the last six years.