I don’t think a mandatory conversion from PIO to OCI is a good idea in this environment. I actually wrote a letter to the external affairs office, CG of India in NY and the PM’s office. Here are the links/ addresses: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], and contact PM of India: http://pgportal.gov.in/pmocitizen/Grievancepmo.aspx

My message was simple and I encourage anyone who feels this way to write something similar:

I am a US citizen by birth who has a Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card. Is it mandatory to convert the PIO card to OCI after June 30th? Will the PIO card be nullified after this date if we do not convert it?

I ask as I am concerned with the current environment in the US where Indians are being attached/ government policies are very unpredictable. Having been born in the US and never been an Indian citizen, I am hesitant to get something which calls me an “overseas CITIZEN OF INDIA” and would rather prefer to be just a “Person of Indian Origin”. So hopefully you will reconsider the mandatory conversion of PIO to OCI.