Originally Posted by
d3vski
Never bothered with a PIO card as I went straight in with an OCI card.
I realised it was nothing more than a glorified lifetime visa the moment they pasted your foreign nationality and foreign passport onto the certificate, and that you still needed to travel with your foreign passport and that it would still be stamped on and out of India.
But the pain free travel to India for 10 years and counting has been totally worth it..........who can remember the days when you had to apply for visas resulting in a very early morning to wait in line for hours so that we got a taste of Mata Bharat's paperwork and officialdom at the consular and visa section at your local mission?
If you got OCI card at age over 50, it is truly (so far) life long. Even if you live up to 100 (aout 50 years after getting it), there is no "security concerns"
If you get OCI in your early 20s, there is no "security concerns" for next 25 or so years.
But if you got it at say age 49, very next year "security concern" starts. Of course, it can wait until you get new US passport but once you get new US passport, this suppposedly lifelong OCI card is no longer valid. You have to get new one issued (By INdia ministry, consulate/agency here in US cant re-issue it)
No sensible explanation has ever been provided by idiots in Indian govt, (Congress or BJP) for this idiotic requirement. PM Modi was given heads up about this during his meeting with NRI leaders during his NYC visit but there is no sign of "achhe din" on this topic.