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.