Government relaxes guidelines for reissue of OCI cards

In a major
sigh of relief, India relaxed certain Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI)
guidelines for reissue of passport for those below 20 years of age and those
above 50 years.

The temporary
relaxation has been granted till 30 June next year, the Ministry of External
Affairs (MEA) said.

 The ministry said the relaxation has been
given in the following cases:

• In case an OCI card holder below the
  age of 20 years has not got 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 got his/her passport renewed subsequently but
  has not got his/her OCI card re-issued on renewal of passport, he/she may
  travel till June 30, 2020 on the strength of existing OCI card along-with the
  new and old passports,” the ministry said.

As per
guidelines in force since 2005, the OCI card needs to be re-issued each time a
new passport is acquired by the cardholder up to the age of 20 years and the
card is required to be re-issued once on acquiring a new passport after
completing 50 years of age.

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

The
ministry, however, said it is advised that OCI cardholders may take steps to observe
the existing OCI guidelines and renew their OCI cards as required by the rules.