Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI)/Dual Citizenship

Please see: https://ociservices.gov.in/welcome

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OCI Scheme was operational from 02.12.2005. The Constitution of India does not allow holding Indian citizenship and citizenship of a foreign country simultaneously. Based on the recommendation of the High Level committee on Indian Diaspora, the Government of India decided to grant Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) commonly known as ‘dual citizenship’. Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) of certain category as has been specified in the brochure who migrated from India and acquired citizenship of a foreign country other than Pakistan and Bangladesh, are eligible for grant of OCI as long as their home countries allow dual citizenship in some form or the other under their local laws.  

Application for registration as OCI can be made online. Before filling the application, instructions may be perused so that there is no mistake in submission of application. Further, the details regarding fee and offices where applications have to be filed may also be perused.

Persons registered as OCI have not been given any voting rights, election to Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha/Legislative Assembly/Council, holding Constitutional posts such as President, Vice President, Judge of Supreme Court/High Court etc. Registered OCIs shall be entitled to following benefits:

(i) Multiple entry, multi-purpose life-long visa to visit India;
(ii) Exemption from reporting to police authorities for any length of stay in India; and
(iii) Parity with NRIs in financial, economic and educational fields except in the acquisition of agricultural or plantation properties.

Any further benefits to OCIs will be notified by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) under section 7B(1) of the Citizenship Act, 1955.

A person registered as OCI is eligible to apply for grant of Indian citizenship under section 5(1)(g) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 if he/she is registered as OCI for five years and has been residing in India for one year out of the five years before making the application. 

For more information on OCI please visit this link : 

https://www.mha.gov.in/

Citizenship and Naturalization

Comments

Note: Unless the context shows otherwise, all answers here were provided by Rajiv and were compiled and reported by our editorial team from comments, blog and community calls on immigration.com. Where transcribed from audio/video, a verbatim transcript is provided. Therefore, it may not conform to the written grammatical or syntactical form.

Submitted by Surinder k gulati (not verified) on Wed, 05/25/2022 - 18:25 Permalink

Recently I and my wife, both US citizens and holders of OCI, had our US passports renewed. Are we required to have our OCIs re-registered? The old OCIs were issued in 2015 and bear old passport numbers. We presently are 70+.years of age. Could you also please advise on the process if required? Thanks for your cooperation.

Note: Unless the context shows otherwise, all answers here were provided by Rajiv and were compiled and reported by our editorial team from comments, blog and community calls on immigration.com. Where transcribed from audio/video, a verbatim transcript is provided. Therefore, it may not conform to the written grammatical or syntactical form.

Note: Unless the context shows otherwise, all answers here were provided by Rajiv and were compiled and reported by our editorial team from comments, blog and community calls on immigration.com. Where transcribed from audio/video, a verbatim transcript is provided. Therefore, it may not conform to the written grammatical or syntactical form.

Submitted by Padmavathi M (not verified) on Sun, 03/17/2024 - 14:42 Permalink

Hello friends,

I have been traveling to India on a tourist visa since I have become a citizen in 2012. I am finding it difficult to do that and want to apply for OCI. I saw that the required documents are Naturalization certificate and also renunciation of Indian passport. I do not have either of the two certificates. What should I do now?]] Any infor is appreciated in advance.

Sincere regards

Padmavathi

Disclaimer
The responses are provided without any guarantee of accuracy. A one-on-one consultation with competent counsel is recommended. Not intended to create an attorney-client relationship.

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