Why NRIs don’t want a new system to replace PIO & OCI cards

Global Indians are waiting for achche din — the 29 millionstrong community of overseas Indians hopes the Narendra Modi government will quickly take a final call on whether GoI will change the way it classifies NRIs.

UPA had piloted a Bill that proposed to replace both the Overseas Citizen of India ( OCI) card and the Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card with a new merged card, to be called the Overseas Indian card.

The Rajya Sabha had passed the Bill but that had lapsed with a change in government.


Here’s what the diaspora wants the Modi Sarkar to know. Many global Indians are opposed to PIO and OCI cards being replaced with a single card. They fear a new card will create confusion and may restrict privileges, and they argue that GoI’s energy should instead be spent on creating better services for PIO and OCI cardholders.

"We are very concerned to have learnt from sources within the government that there may be moves to revive the Bill…we had strongly opposed the previous government’s move to merge the two cards," says Munish Gupta, executive council member and international coordinator, South Asia, Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin ( GOPIO).

GOPIO has argued that OCI/PIO cards were thoughtful and beneficial gestures by the Indian government towards the Indian diaspora and that any move to do away with these documents or restrict their scope will cause hurt or even humiliation.

Worse, another card may cause enormous bureaucratic confusion, GOPIO argues. Indian immigration authorities at ports of entry as well officials in Indian embassies and missions overseas may wittingly or unwittingly cause a great deal of trouble to global Indians if a new card with new rules is issued.

Instead, says GOPIO, the government should provide better services. "The Indian government and the ministry of overseas Indian affairs should focus on solving problems faced by OCI and PIO card applicants," Gupta says.

These problems are typically poor service quality of thirdparty vendors at Indian high commissions & embassies and document demands made on PIOs who have lived in their host country for many generations.

Ankur Vaidya, a New Jersey businessman and president, Federation of Indian Associations (Tri-State) — this is one of the largest non-profit Indian-American organisations — has the same complaint.

"Rather than introducing another card leading to confusion and delays and a big financial burden on cardholders who may have to reapply, the government should provide better services to applicants," he says.