Some more clarifications that confuse the situation further, but bring a bit of enlightenment to the thought process in Babudom.


a) The "Overseas Citizen of India (OCI)" scheme has also been discontinued at the same time that the PIO scheme was discontinued. All persons who were previously classified as OCI are now classified as "OCI Card Holders". (Ed Note : This is a subtle but very key difference)

b) All former PIOs who were not previously eligible to become OCI due to different eligibility criteria can now be classified as "OCI Card Holders". The eligibility to be an OCI Card Holder is different than either that of the former OCI or former PIO scheme - it is a hybrid of the two.

c) There is no longer the requirement that the country of citizenship of an OCI Card Holder permits dual citizenship since the OCI scheme has been discontinued. It is now merely an OCI Card Holder scheme rather than an Overseas Citizenship scheme.

d) All PIO cards are considered to be converted to and treated as OCI cards automatically. The PIO card is no longer valid for travel as it is now considered to be an OCI card. Therefore it is correct that all PIO cards are not valid for travel after 31MAR16. They are also not valid for travel before 31MAR16. The PIO card no longer exists. Any document that says it is a PIO card is actually an OCI card.

e) The Central Government reserve the right to change their position regarding the former PIO cards being treated as OCI cards, so even though the former PIO card is now considered to be an OCI card that may not be the case in the future. However, any such date has not been communicated at this time.

f) The 31MAR16 deadline is the last date at which an application to convert a former PIO card that is currently considered to be an OCI card into an actual OCI card can be made for free and without reference to the revised eligibility criteria for "OCI Card Holder". A former PIO card continues to be considered as an OCI card after this date and until the Central Government decides at their sole discretion that this is no longer the case.