What is an OCI card and how to get one?

OCI stands for Overseas Citizen of India. You can obtain an OCI card when you are looking to have a dual citizenship between India and another country. If you are an Indian, but you have moved abroad and obtained a foreign passport, you can apply for an OCI card.

An OCI card would be very useful when doing anything financial in India. You can work on an OCI card, you can invest on an OCI card, and you can buy property using your OCI card.

Why not a PIO card? It is Simple. If you were born in India, apply for an OCI card, if you were born in another country and are married to an Indian or of Indian origin, apply for a PIO card.

If you are in India and you are looking to apply for your OCI card, you will first need to visit the FRRO office and make sure that you can do that on the visa that you have. You will then need to visit the MHA office. This is where you will get the forms that you will need to fill up and return to the same place.

You usually need to provide your passport, visa, address proof abroad and in India. Proof that you have been an Indian citizen (copies of your old Indian passport will serve as proof). Once you have all of the documents, you also need to have passport size photos taken.

An OCI card comes in the form of a stamp on your passport and/or a passport size booklet with the country logo for India on it. Now that you have your OCI card, you can come to India and leave India as you please without any hassle when you go through customs.