Dear all, thanks for this discussion which I found more illuminating than going through CKGS, Indian embassies and consulates, and immihelp websites. A few questions...

1. Has anyone actually gotten any Immigration checkpoint in India to notate the PIO card for lifetime validity? My impression is that this is not mandatory, but it's useful to have in case GoI changes/reinterprets its rules again.

2. What about PIO cards held by minors that were initially valid for 15 years? Those cards have an expiration date on them, but is the expiration date henceforth rendered irrelevant?

3. My minor child's PIO card has a page dedicated to "endorsement to be made by a competent authority in case of change/renewal of passport of this PIO card holder." Given US passports for minors change every 5 years, can this endorsements page get updated simply by the personnel at the Immigration checkpoint when entering India? Has anyone had that happen?
Or does one need to go through the CKGS "black hole" system in advance (and very likely be strong-armed by CKGS into switching to an OCI)?

Thank you for your advice.