The President of India is said to have cleared an ordinance amending the Indian Citizenship Act to merge the Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) schemes. This will ensure life-long Indian visa to PIOs, besides exempting them from police reporting.
The amendments to the Citizenship Act will benefit PIOs and will give them benefits like life-long visa and exemption from registering with the FRO/FRRO if their stay here exceeds six months. This is in line with an Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurance to the Indian diaspora at New York’s Madison Square Garden, where he announced life-time visas for PIOs as well as merger of the PIO and OCI schemes.
Home ministry sources too confirmed the development.