Important Info for PIO/OCI Status Holders

[Atithee]

I came across this information today. Please note and take appropriate action to prevent unexpected issues prior to your travel to India.

From the Consulate General of India, San Francisco website (http://www.cgisf.org). Other US and worldwide consulates have similar information including the Indian Embassy website in Washington DC:

LATEST NEWS: In supercession of previous rules, Government of India has decided the following:

* All naturalized US citizens of Indian descent, who have already acquired foreign citizenship voluntarily in the past shall cease to be Indian citizens upon their acquiring foreign citizenship. However, such persons are required to renounce their Indian citizenship and to obtain surrender certificate for their Indian passports, whether valid or expired, so that the passport is not misused.

* For those persons of Indian origin who have already acquired foreign citizenship till 31 May 2010, the fee is $ 20. For those, who acquire foreign citizenship on or after 1 June 2010, the fee is $175.

* The issue of refund of any part of renunciation fee already paid by applicants till 31 May 2010, if applicable, has been taken up with the Government of India. The decision when received will be uniformly applied to those concerned and the information will be put on our website when available. Meanwhile no email/phone queries will be entertained.

Please note that PIO/NRI/US citizens can no longer apply for a tourist visa in the US. Also, they can only get the Entry (X category) visa for a max of five years now. Furthermore, in order to avail any Indian consulate service for visa related purposes, having the surrender certificate is a must.

Please verify the information as necessary. I sincerely hope that this information will help a lot of people.

[bujilover]

Gr8 work Athithee.

I'm sure it ll help some of us here.

[Atithee]

Bujilover,

If you are not a US citizen, it probably has no bearing for you unless you have friends/family who are impacted.

Atithee

[bujilover]

I did've a frnd right there studying in houston univ.

[jayakris]

Ah, one extra benefit of keeping my Indian citizenship and never messing around with it ... I don't have to worry about all the confusing stuff from GOI that I can't understand!

My son has a POI status. I guess it doesn't apply to him as he was born in the US and is a US citizen. The above POI/NRI stuff only applies to those who had Indian citizenship and changed later, I think?

Jay