Travel advisory issued for PIO card holders

The

Indian Consulate in Dubai has alerted holders of Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) cards that the cards will not be permitted for travel from October 1 if they are not machine readable.

The advisory was issued in view of ICAO guidelines that make only machine readable travel documents acceptable internationally. “All PIO cardholders are advised to take note of this to avoid any inconvenience at airports,” the mission said yesterday. Government of India earlier advised conversion of all PIO cards to Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) cards by December 31, 2017. (Staff Report)