The Indian Panorama

Tag: Overseas Citizen

  • Diaspora Welcomes Modi Government’s Simplificationof OCI Cards Re-issue Process

    Diaspora Welcomes Modi Government’s Simplificationof OCI Cards Re-issue Process

    Wants parity in privileges and benefits with Indian citizens in India

    GOPIO Chairman Dr. Thomas Abraham welcomed the simplification of process with regard to the OCI card, but urged the government of India to treat OCI Card holders who have invested in business and creating jobs in India at par with Indian citizens
    Jaipur Foot, USA Chairman Prem Bhandari who has been a relentless critic of the government policies on OCI Card, questioning how it could be a lifelong card when it required renewal time and again, said the Indian government has made a good beginning, but it has yet to meet the aspirations of the NRI community.

    I.S. Saluja

    NEW YORK (TIP): A notification posted by Press Information Bureau on April 15, 2021 at 7.02 PM (IST) speaks of a government of India decision which is expected to significantly ease the process for re-issue of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards. It says the Modi Government has decided to simplify the process. This decision has been taken on the directions of the Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The OCI Card has proved to be very popular amongst foreigners of Indian Origin and spouses of foreign origin of Indian citizens or OCI cardholders, as it helps them a hassle-free entry and unlimited stay in India. So far about 37.72 lakh OCI Cards have been issued by the Government of India. As per the extant law, a foreigner of Indian origin or a foreign spouse of an Indian citizen or foreign spouse of an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholder, can be registered as an OCI cardholder. OCI card is a lifelong visa for entry into and stay in India with a number of other major benefits attached to it which are not available to other foreigners.

     Presently, the OCI card is required to be re-issued each time a new passport is issued up to 20 years of age and once after completing 50 years of age, in view of biological changes in the face of the applicant. With a view to facilitate the OCI cardholders, it has now been decided by the Government of India to dispense with this requirement. A person who has got registration as OCI cardholder prior to attaining the age of 20 years will have to get the OCI card re-issued only once when a new passport is issued after his/her completing 20 years of age, so as to capture his/ her facial features on attaining adulthood. If a person has obtained registration as OCI cardholder after attaining the age of 20 years, there will be no requirement of re-issue of OCI card.

    With a view to update the data regarding new passports obtained by the OCI cardholder, it has been decided that he/she shall upload a copy of the new passport containing his/her photo and also a latest photo on the online OCI portal, each time a new passport is issued up to 20 years of age and once after completing 50 years of age. These documents may be uploaded by the OCI cardholder within 3 months of receipt of the new passport.

    However, in the case of those who have been registered as OCI cardholder as spouse of foreign origin of a citizen of India or an OCI cardholder, the person concerned will be required to upload on the system, a copy of the new passport containing the photo of the passport holder and also a latest photo along with a declaration that their marriage is still subsisting each time a new passport is issued. These documents may be uploaded by the OCI cardholder spouse within three months of receipt of his/ her new passport.

    The details will be updated on the system and an auto acknowledgement through e-mail will be sent to the OCI cardholder informing that the updated details have been taken on record. There will be no restriction on the OCI cardholder to travel to/ from India during the period from the date of issue of new passport till the date of final acknowledgement of his/ her documents in the web-based system. All the above services of uploading documents will be provided on gratis basis to the OCI cardholders.

    Commenting on the government’s latest decision, USA based Global organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO International) Chairman Dr. Thomas Abraham saidGOPIO welcomed the new directives simplifying the OCI Card process.

     “This will remove the confusion to many OCI card holders on the process of renewing the card at the age of 20 and 50 and one doesn’t have to go through the whole OCI card renewal process again,” said GOPIO Chairman Dr. Thomas Abraham. This will also encourage more overseas Indians to become OCIs and it will benefit India, through their travel, business and investment in India.

    “However, GOPIO strongly urges the government to treat OCI Card holders who have invested in business and creating jobs in India at par with Indian citizens and they shouldn’t be termed as foreign nationals by various Govt. agencies while doing business including manufacturing and research in India,” Dr. Abraham added.

    The government was forced to grant these concessions after the Diaspora leaders across the world raised their voice against the discriminatory policies which some openly condemned as double standards.

    Jaipur Foot USA Chairman Prem Bhandari in particular has been in the forefront of demanding revision of rules to simplify the process of renewal of OCI card. He is the one who questioned the nomenclature “lifelong card” when it had to be got renewed so often. Asked by The Indian Panorama for his reaction to the revised “simplified” process, he said, it is still not an ideal situation. OCI card holders need to be treated at par with Indian citizens, living in India, and should be allowed the benefits and privileges which an Indian citizen in India normally enjoys. He added that much more needs to be done, a sentiment which Dr. Thomas Abraham also voiced.

    The Indian Panorama will welcome readers’ comments on the issue which will keep kicking dust until a more NRI friendly approach is adopted by the government of India.

  • New OCI rules confuse and anger NRI’s

    New OCI rules confuse and anger NRI’s

    NEW YORK (TIP): Those who hold Overseas Citizen of India or Person of Indian Origin cards will now be considered “foreign nationals” in India, according to the Narendra Modi government’s new rules governing the rights and privileges of diaspora Indians. India’s Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notification on March 4, which includes new and sweeping restrictions on what OCI or PIO card holders can — and cannot — do in India. The notification says: “…the OCI cardholder shall be required to obtain a special permission or a Special Permit, as the case may be, from the competent authority or the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer or the Indian Mission concerned, namely: –

    (i) to undertake research.

    (ii) to undertake any Missionary or Tabligh or Mountaineering or Journalistic activities.

    (iii) to undertake internship in any foreign Diplomatic Missions or foreign Government organizations in India or to take up employment in any foreign Diplomatic Missions in India.

    (iv) to visit any place which falls within the Protected or Restricted or prohibited areas as notified by the Central Government or competent authority.”

    The new rules have come as a shock for many in the Indian-American community that is, according to at least one study and ample anecdotal evidence, largely in favor of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  Thomas Abraham, chairman of GOPIO International, a major Indian diaspora organization in the US, told indica News: “This is a very drastic move by the government. Once a person is treated as foreign national, major OCI benefits are gone.”

    Some of the new clauses will hurt OCI cardholders doing business India, he said.

    “So far, they were treated on par with resident Indians. Once they are termed as foreign nationals, they have to take permission for many things including conducting research in a company owned by an OCI cardholder.”

    Abraham said he had been receiving calls from OCI cardholders doing business in India.

    “Businesspeople are very much concerned about this new rule,” he underlined.

    “GOPIO is studying these new clauses and getting feedback from our members. GOPIO will send a response letter to the government of India soon,” he said. One of the Indian Americans who have seen their business hit directly by the new rules is Dr Muhammed Majeed, founder of Sabinsa Corporation in New Jersey. Sabinsa, founded in 1988, is a manufacturer and supplier of herbal extracts, cosmeceuticals, minerals and specialty fine chemicals. In 1991, Majeed started Sami Sabinsa Labs in Bangalore.

    He has over 1,150 employees including scientists who do research work for him in Ayurveda-related products.

    Majeed, who said he was one of the sponsors of the event of Indian Prime Minister Modi at Madison Square Garden in New York, sounded bitter about the new rules.

    “Indians come back to India, I will give you a dream of India [is what Modi said]. But my dream is not to be treated as second class citizen in my own country,” Majeed said.

    He said that this new policy was making him think of moving his business out of India.

    He said he offers “value added products and cultivated products that were exempted from government permit, and now they say none of them are exempted.

    “If you are touching any biodiversity products you pay,” he said.

    “This rule is for only foreign nationals. And they found one loophole in my case that I have OCI card and I am a foreign citizen,” Majeed told indica News.

    The biological diversity act is not new. Majeed said: “Yes, but there were other sections and in that value-added products were exempted. “We offer Value added products,” he explained. “And we do research on natural products— the curcumin for example you buy, and many Ayurveda products and natural products. It comes under natural and it was exempted.”

    “Now the National Biodiversity Authority is saying we will tell you what research you do. The moment you apply to biodiversity board to do research, I fear that information could be shared with everybody. And also it takes months to get the permit. And they want money for each permit from foreign nationals,” he said.

    “It seems in 2014-15 they framed the rules and last year they started implementing and made it official on March 4. I learned about it after receiving a court notice last September,” Masjeed said.

    “This will shut down my entire business and have to move to other country,” he said.

    “No one in the world says you need a permission to do a research! Only India is asking to take permission to do research and we (India) are nowhere in research if compared with advanced countries. On top of that you are asking to take permission for research on each product!”

    He alleged the government says there is single-window clearance and no hassle and permit to run a business in no time, but it is not true.

    “We have 29 states in India and each state has a biodiversity board and it’s not uniform. If you are an Indian company you don’t need permission but foreign nationals need a permit and it would be biggest hurdle for us,” he said.

    “My company is 25 years old in India. I was the lone player when I started,” he rued. “Now, to come to India to do business as an OCI is a sin for which they will punish you.”

    An Indian-American community leader, Prem Bhandari, told indica News: “It’s too early to understand [the new rules] and people in the US are not aware of the change. We have to understand why they [the Indian government] did that.”

    (Courtesy Indica News)