Consular Services
PIO/OCI Cards
Person Of Indian Origin (PIO)
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As per the Gazette of India (Part-I, Section-I) published on 09.01.2015, all the existing Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) card holder registered as such under new PIO Card scheme 2002, shall be deemed to be Overseas Citizens of India Cardholder. Please see link: https://mha.gov.in/PDF_Other/
Merge_PIO_OCI.pdf for Gazette Notification regarding Merger of PIO & OCI Cards. -
All PIO card holders with valid PIO cards as on 09.01.2015 are once again advised to apply for conversion of their PIO card to OCI card.
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Bureau of Immigration will accept PIO cards as valid travel document till 31st March 2020 along with valid foreign passport and the Indian Immigration Check Post (s) will continue to consider all PIO cards valid for exit from / entry into India till 31st March 2020 as last and final opportunity. This extension of timeline is subject to the condition that if in the meantime any deadline is notified by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) thereby making hand written PIO cards invalid, then PIO cardholder may have to obtain appropriate visa from Indian Mission / Posts.
