Originally Posted by
Keyser
This is not an ID card for travel. My suggestion would still be to answer 'no'.
Originally Posted by
oliver2002
The OCI card is technically just a visa in a separate booklet. The coding of the machine readable ICAO part of the biometric page is clear: it has V<IND.... in the first line identifying it as a Visa.
I absolutely 100% agree with both of you.
My concern is the consequences if someone doesn't understand that, e.g.:
1. A background investigator that recommends someone be denied a job/security clearance because the applicant put down that they have an OCI and thus investigator thinks the applicant is a "dual citizen", and the applicant generally isn't told the reason for denial thus can't debunk the misunderstanding.
2. Someone who repeatedly goes through the hassle of getting visas instead of getting the OCI because they're afraid of #1.
I'm just wishing for some official document/statement/website that says it's not a travel ID card and is just a long-term visa that people could reference.
Just can't believe the rank idiocy of the Indian Govt in naming this visa as "Overseas Citizen of India". Yes, I know the OCI was in some ways the response to calls by former citizens for India to establish some form of 'dual-citizenship', but this is completely stupid. Did they not think of the confusion this would cause?
I mean, what other country officially refers to non-citizens as "citizens"??
What were they thinking/smoking?