Grievance related to reissuance of OCI's issued to children of Indian passport holding parents.
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Prime Minister of INDIA, New Delhi - INDIA
Subject : Grievance related to reissuance of OCI's issued to children of Indian passport holding parents.
Respected Sir,
We have a grievance in relation to reissuance of OCI's issued to children of Indian passport holding parents and request your kind attention to address the problem.
Related details are as follows:
Background Information :
-----------------------------------------
As you are aware, the Govt. of India introduced the lifelong OCI scheme late in 2005. At that time, there was no restriction that denied issuance of OCI's to children of Indian passport holding parents. Several children of Indian passport holding parents like us were granted OCI cards at that time. Some of the children also had valid PIO cards that were cancelled in the process of the OCI card issuance.
In the second half of 2006, OCI grant qualifying criteria was changed to make it mandatory that at least one parent of an Indian origin minor had to hold a non-Indian passport for the minor to qualify for an OCI Card. There was no mention of the status of minors with both parents holding Indian passports and already granted an OCI card. All of us who enquired about this at that time received verbal clarification from the Indian consulates that such OCI's would continue to be valid.
A new requirement was also added that the OCI be reissued each time the passport is renewed till the age of 20 or above the age of 50. As the passports held at the time of the original OCI grant expired, many of us attempted to reissue the OCI per this requirement. A few cases were accepted by the Indian consulates, including the New York Indian Consulate and the OCI's were reissued. Subsequent applications were rejected by the consulates indicating that the concerned child is ineligible for an OCI card (despite the fact that he/she already holds an OCI card) as both parents hold Indian Passports.
The common recommendation received from the various Indian Consulates was to cancel the OCI and to apply for a fresh PIO card paying the full fee and doing related paperwork all over again.
The Issue :
-----------------------------------------
This recommendation seems to imply that the status of those already granted an OCI card with both parents holding passports was perhaps overlooked by mistake at the time that the OCI grant policy was changed.
This policy is however putting many Indian families like us in undue hardship for no fault of ours. We are being asked to repay the full fee and put in paperwork again for a new visa despite our children already having a visa with promised lifelong validity. Additionally, some of the children already had valid PIO's that were cancelled when the OCI's with promised lifelong validity were issued. If we choose not to renew the OCI on the other hand, we are worried about stay restrictions or denial of entry that may be imposed by Immigration officials on affected OCI holders at the time of their next visit to India.
Possible Solutions :
-----------------------------------------
We therefore request your help to address the situation and to help make the related policy more fair.
The right thing to do in our humble opinion is to address this issue in one of the following ways :
a) Allow renewal of OCIs issued to affected minors under the old policy guidelines OR
b) Issue a new policy memorandum clarifying that minors with Indian passport holding parents already holding an OCI could gain entry by carrying and showing the old passport with the OCI card at the port of entry in India OR
c) Take corrective action for all affected parties free of cost in terms of reinstating PIO's that were cancelled or issuing new PIO's free of cost to those holding OCI's like our children OR
d) Remedy this situation in the forthcoming guidelines for the new combined PIO-OCI card that was announced by the honorable PM recently.
Immediate helpful step :
-----------------------------------------
Irrespective of the manner in which the issue is resolved, it would be greatly helpful to us if an official announcement could be released exempting affected OCI holders with Indian passport holding parents from the reissuance requirement till a decision is made on the resolution and a reasonable timeframe allowed after that point(say 6 months) for the relevant compliance actions to be performed.
We look forward to a positive action to remedy this matter from your distinguished office at the earliest.
Thanking you
Subject : Grievance related to reissuance of OCI's issued to children of Indian passport holding parents.
Respected Sir,
We have a grievance in relation to reissuance of OCI's issued to children of Indian passport holding parents and request your kind attention to address the problem.
Related details are as follows:
Background Information :
-----------------------------------------
As you are aware, the Govt. of India introduced the lifelong OCI scheme late in 2005. At that time, there was no restriction that denied issuance of OCI's to children of Indian passport holding parents. Several children of Indian passport holding parents like us were granted OCI cards at that time. Some of the children also had valid PIO cards that were cancelled in the process of the OCI card issuance.
In the second half of 2006, OCI grant qualifying criteria was changed to make it mandatory that at least one parent of an Indian origin minor had to hold a non-Indian passport for the minor to qualify for an OCI Card. There was no mention of the status of minors with both parents holding Indian passports and already granted an OCI card. All of us who enquired about this at that time received verbal clarification from the Indian consulates that such OCI's would continue to be valid.
A new requirement was also added that the OCI be reissued each time the passport is renewed till the age of 20 or above the age of 50. As the passports held at the time of the original OCI grant expired, many of us attempted to reissue the OCI per this requirement. A few cases were accepted by the Indian consulates, including the New York Indian Consulate and the OCI's were reissued. Subsequent applications were rejected by the consulates indicating that the concerned child is ineligible for an OCI card (despite the fact that he/she already holds an OCI card) as both parents hold Indian Passports.
The common recommendation received from the various Indian Consulates was to cancel the OCI and to apply for a fresh PIO card paying the full fee and doing related paperwork all over again.
The Issue :
-----------------------------------------
This recommendation seems to imply that the status of those already granted an OCI card with both parents holding passports was perhaps overlooked by mistake at the time that the OCI grant policy was changed.
This policy is however putting many Indian families like us in undue hardship for no fault of ours. We are being asked to repay the full fee and put in paperwork again for a new visa despite our children already having a visa with promised lifelong validity. Additionally, some of the children already had valid PIO's that were cancelled when the OCI's with promised lifelong validity were issued. If we choose not to renew the OCI on the other hand, we are worried about stay restrictions or denial of entry that may be imposed by Immigration officials on affected OCI holders at the time of their next visit to India.
Possible Solutions :
-----------------------------------------
We therefore request your help to address the situation and to help make the related policy more fair.
The right thing to do in our humble opinion is to address this issue in one of the following ways :
a) Allow renewal of OCIs issued to affected minors under the old policy guidelines OR
b) Issue a new policy memorandum clarifying that minors with Indian passport holding parents already holding an OCI could gain entry by carrying and showing the old passport with the OCI card at the port of entry in India OR
c) Take corrective action for all affected parties free of cost in terms of reinstating PIO's that were cancelled or issuing new PIO's free of cost to those holding OCI's like our children OR
d) Remedy this situation in the forthcoming guidelines for the new combined PIO-OCI card that was announced by the honorable PM recently.
Immediate helpful step :
-----------------------------------------
Irrespective of the manner in which the issue is resolved, it would be greatly helpful to us if an official announcement could be released exempting affected OCI holders with Indian passport holding parents from the reissuance requirement till a decision is made on the resolution and a reasonable timeframe allowed after that point(say 6 months) for the relevant compliance actions to be performed.
We look forward to a positive action to remedy this matter from your distinguished office at the earliest.
Thanking you
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