Originally Posted by
PVDtoDEL
As a former PIO holder, your status is now OCI regardless of whether you have been issued a physical OCI card.
The erstwhile "Overseas Citizen of India" program has been terminated. It is now called an "OCI Cardholder" program where the abbreviation "OCI" doesn't officially stand for "Overseas Citizen of India". All former PIOs are now considered to be "OCI Cardholders". The change was made to assuage the concerns of people like
PrivatePilot as well as to open up the program to citizens of countries who didn't previously permit dual "citizenship" and hence prohibited their citizens from holding the erstwhile OCI status.