Overseas citizenship of India (OCI card)
By the end of this read, you will be wise of, what is an OCI card? who can apply for an OCI card? what are the benefits of the OCI card?
What is ‘Overseas Citizenship of India’?
Indian constitution does not allow Indian citizens to acquire the nationality of another country simultaneously. In short dual citizenship is not allowed. If an Indian citizen acquires the citizenship of a foreign country, it is deemed that she/he has surrendered his/her Indian Citizenship.
However, to facilitate easy movement and provide additional benefits when compared to other foreigners, the Indian government has decided to register persons of Indian origin of some categories as OCI (Overseas Citizenship of India) cardholders.
What is an OCI card?
‘Certificate of registration as overseas citizen of India’, popularly known as ‘OCI card’, is not a grant of citizenship. It is more of a lifetime VISA. When traveling to India, an OCI cardholder must invariably carry a valid passport along with the OCI card. Here, the passport serves as the proof of citizenship of the foreigner, and the OCI card serves as VISA.
For any reason, If you are not in a position to travel along with an OCI card, you should obtain an appropriate VISA before undertaking travel to India.
Benefits
An OCI card allows for
Lifelong Multi-entry, multi-purpose VISA for visiting India.
Exemption from police-reporting or registration for any length of stay in India, in normal circumstances.
Parity with NRIs in the fields of financial, economic, and educational fields except for the purposes of acquiring agricultural or plantation properties. OCI cardholders are not given any voting rights in India nor are allowed to hold any constitutional posts.
Non-entitlements
OCI cardholders are not allowed to carry out activities like Mountaineering, Journalism, Tabligh, and Research work without the prior special permission from the appropriate Indian authorities.
As in the case of any other foreigner, an OCI cardholder requires to take a special permit to visit restricted/protected places notified by the government of India from time to time.
OCI cardholders are not given any voting rights in India nor are allowed to hold any constitutional posts.
Who can apply for an OCI Card?
Scenario 1
A person who is a foreigner national, but satisfying any of the following conditions listed below
- If she/he was a citizen of India at the time of commencement of the Indian constitution
- If she/he was a citizen of India at any time after the commencement of the constitution
- If she/he was eligible to become an Indian citizen at the time of the commencement of the Indian constitution
- If she/he belonged to a territory that became part of India after 15th August 1947
- Who is a child or grandchild of any of the 4 cases mentioned above
- A person who is a minor child of any of the 5 cases mentioned above
Scenario 2
- A person is a minor child of and both/any of her/his parents are Indian
- A foreigner who is a spouse of an Indian citizen or an OCI Cardholder. However, the marriage should have been registered and subsisted for at least two years immediately preceding the application for the OCI card. Moreover, such a person should not have been a citizen of Pakistan, Bangladesh, or any other country as specified by the government of India from time to time.
Note
Also note that a person is not eligible for an OCI card if she/he or either of her/his parents or grandparents or great-grandparents is/are citizens of Pakistan, Bangladesh, or any other country as specified by the government of India from time to time.
For a foreigner to apply for an OCI card in India, she/he should have been an ordinary resident in India. For this purpose, an ‘ordinary resident’ means ‘a person who is living in the country for a continuous period of at least 6 months All other eligible persons should apply for, in the nearest mission/post where she/he is an ordinary resident.