Delhi issues fresh guidance for OCI cardholders
ALL Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders will be required to take special permission from the Indian government if they want to be involved in any missionary, ‘Tabligh’ or journalistic activities in the country, officials said last week.
An OCI card is issued to a person of Indian origin or foreign national who holds a passport of a foreign country and is not a citizen of India.
In a notification issued last Thursday (5), India’s home ministry said OCI cardholders are entitled to get multiple entry lifelong visas to visit the country, but they must obtain “special permission or a special permit from the Foreigners Regional Registration
Officer (FRRO) or the Indian Mission to undertake research and to undertake any missionary or Tabligh or mountaineering or journalistic activities”.
OCI cardholders also need a special permit to begin an internship in a foreign diplomatic mission, foreign government organisations in India, to take up employment in foreign diplomatic missions in India or to visit any place designated as protected, restricted or prohibited.
However, the home ministry has allowed OCI cardholders parity with Indian nationals on air fares on domestic sectors, and entry fees to visit national parks, national monuments and museums in India.
OCI cardholders will also be exempt from registration with the FRRO or Foreigners Registration Officer (FRO) for any length of stay in India, but they have to inform those authorities when there is a change in their permanent residential address and in their occupation.
According to the home ministry, OCI card holders will be treated on par with non-resident Indians in the matter of inter-country adoption of Indian children and also while appearing for India entrance tests. These include the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, Joint Entrance Examination (Mains) which make them eligible for admission only against any non-resident Indian seat or any supernumerary seat, provided the OCI cardholder shall not be eligible for admission against any seat reserved exclusively for Indian citizens.
OCI cardholders will also get parity in the purchase or sale of immovable properties other than agricultural land or farm house or plantation property and pursuing professions like doctors, dentists, nurses and pharmacists in India.
In March 2020, when a nationwide lockdown was in force in India following the coronavirus outbreak, more than 2,500 Tablighi Jamaat members were found to be residing at the organisation’s headquarters in Delhi despite guidelines issued against large congregations of people.
As many as 233 foreign Tablighi workers were arrested for violations of visa rules and many of them were blacklisted, putting a ban on their future visit to India.
Tablighi Jamaat workers, both foreigners as well as Indians, undertake preaching tours across the country (also known as chilla), where a volunteer of the organisation travels for 120 days to various parts of the country and stays in local mosques where they inform the local communities about their activities, besides holding special prayers.