Saturday, 28 September 2019

Person of Indian Origin (PIO) / Overseas Citizen of India (OCI)

Person of Indian Origin (PIO) / Overseas Citizen of India (OCI)
A ‘Person of Indian Origin (PIO)’ means a foreign citizen not being a citizen of Bangladesh, Pakistan or other countries as may be specified by the Central Government from time to time if:
 He/she at any time held an Indian passport
Or
 He/she or either of their parents / grand-parents / great grand-parents was born and permanently resident in India as defined in Government of India Act, 1935 and other territories that became part of India thereafter provided neither was at any time a citizen of any of the aforesaid countries (as referred above)
Or
 He/she is a spouse of a citizen of India or a PIO
An Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) means any foreign national who was eligible to become citizen of India on 26th January 1950 or was a citizen of India on or at anytime after 26th January 1950 or belong to a territory that became part of India after 15th August 1947 is eligible for registration as OCI. Minor children of such person are also eligible for OCI. However, if the applicant has ever been a citizen of Pakistan of Bangladesh, he/she will not be eligible for OCI.
Explanation: PIO will include an ‘Overseas Citizen of India’ cardholder within the meaning of Section 7(A) of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
Please refer to guidelines issued by Ministry of Home Affairs vide their Gazette Notification no 25024/9/2014-F.I. dated 09.1.2015 and 26011/01/2014-IC.I. dated 09.01.2015, regarding merger of PIO into OCI, the relevant excerpts of the notification are appended below for reference :
“all the existing Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) cardholders registered as such under notification of the Government Of India in the Ministry of Home affairs number 26011/4/98- F.I. dated the 19th August, 2002, shall be deemed to be Overseas Citizens of India cardholders (OCI).”

1 comment:

  1. Whether PIO card holders can take up central govt jobs in india like in NITs IITs and AIIMs

    ReplyDelete