New Delhi: For quite some time now, the Government has been talking about giving different benefits to people of Indian origin.
On Friday the Government threw open the Overseas Citizen of India card scheme which will give people of Indian origin who have taken citizenship of some other country a new connection with India.
To apply for the Overseas Citizen of India card, the PIOs will have to log on to mha.nic.in, which will take them to the website of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The page will take the person to an online registration form where all the details are to be filled and is to be sent along with the relevant documents.
If the applicant doesn't have any criminal record, he will receive his Overseas Citizen of India card within one month.
The card costs $275 or its equivalent in the local currency of the country of the applicant and if the application is rejected, $250 are refunded.
But those already holding PIO cards, the processing fee is $25.
The Government has also given the defination of who all come under PIOs.
"A PIO is someone whose family migrated from India before independence while an Overseas Citizen is someone whose family migrated after 1950," Jt Secretary (Foreigners) MHA, D S Mishra said.
An OCI card will give a multiple entry life-long visa that will be pasted on the passport and unlike a PIO card, the person does not have to register with the police even if the stay in India exceeds 180 days.
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