• Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched the new Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) portal in New Delhi on May 19.

• The new portal will provide enhanced functionality, advanced security, and a user-friendly experience for the existing over five million OCI cardholders and new users. 

• The existing OCI Services portal was developed in 2013 and is operational in over 180 Indian missions abroad as well as 12 Foreigners Regional Registration Offices (FRROs), processing approximately 2,000 applications per day. 

• Given the significant technological advancements over the past decade and feedback received from OCI cardholders, a revamped OCI portal has been developed to address existing limitations and enhance user experience.

• The revamped OCI portal is accessible at ociservices.gov.in/onlineOCI.

Overseas Citizen of India

• The Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) scheme was introduced through an amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955, in 2005. 

• It provides for registration as OCI all Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) who were citizens of India on January 26, 1950, or thereafter or were eligible to become citizens on January 26, 1950, or their descendants.

• No person who or either of whose parents or grandparents or great grandparents is or had been a citizen of Pakistan, Bangladesh or such other country, as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, specify, shall be eligible for registration as an OCI cardholder.

• An OCI Cardholder is entitled to a lifelong visa for visiting India.  

• He/she is exempted from registration with Foreigners Regional Registration Offices (FRRO) or Foreign Registration Officer (FRO) for any length of stay in India.

• They are treated at par with Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in respect of all facilities available to them in economic, financial and educational fields except in matters relating to the acquisition of agricultural or plantation properties.

• OCI is not to be misconstrued as ‘dual citizenship’.

• OCIs are not entitled to hold public offices in India, nor can they vote in elections in India.

• They are not entitled to the rights conferred on a citizen of India under Article 16 of the Constitution with regard to equality of opportunity in matters of public employment.

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