A recent notification from the Union Home Ministry, with some changes to the overseas citizen of India (OCI) card, which is a lifelong visa facility given to people of Indian origin, has ruffled feathers among Indians overseas. While the home ministry has said that the new set of guidelines for OCI cardholders, in its notification last week, are a consolidated list of earlier notifications, with some clarifications
While the OCI card provides a multiple entry lifelong visa for any purpose to its holders; they also have parity with non-resident Indians with regard to all facilities available to them in the economic, financial and educational fields, barring matters relating to the acquisition of agricultural or plantation properties.
According to the new notification, all OCI cardholders are required to take a special permission from the Indian government if they want to be involved in any missionary, Tabligh, mountaineering, research or journalistic activities in the country. It is also necessary for OCI cardholders to take a special permission to undertake internship in any foreign diplomatic missions or foreign government organizations in India or to visit a protected, restricted or prohibited areas as notified by the central government.
The MHA notification has, meanwhile, brought OCI cardholders on par with NRIs on the issue of inter-country adoption of Indian children; appearing in the all-India entrance tests such as National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) (Mains) and JEE (Advanced), making them eligible for admission to NRI seats. However, OCI cardholders will be charged entry fees for visiting national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, national monuments, historical sites and museums in India, under the new rules.
Source: Times of India
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