Some of this can't be changed unilaterally and/or so easily by the Indian government -- at least so long as India maintains its constitutional ban on Indian citizens willfully holding citizenship of India and an Indian-recognized sovereign state at the same time.

OCI is not actual citizenship of India, and never has been. Every government involved in the PIO and OCI arrangements has been advised of the limits of the OCI status absent a constitutional amendment to address the dual-citizenship restriction.

Agreed...it is not citizenship par se but the fact that it is regulated under the citizenship act and not the Immigration Act shows that it is a bit more than a visa marketed as citizenship. This is further compounded by the fact that it grants the holder a "certificate of registration" and the right to reside in India shows that it is a haphazard designed provision.

I know India does not care but the UK government that British Overseas Citizens (a particular sub class of citizens) and holders of OCI status are ineligible to register as full British Citizens under provisions to reduce statelessness as it is classed as type of citizenship similar to how BOC status is a type of British Citizenship.

I would go as far to state that the OCI is incompatible with the constitution of India and therefore illegal for the reasons outlined above.

The OCI and the PIO are just longer/maybe lifetime visas with certain previleges in India ( property etc. same as to an NRI- Non resident Indian, lesser than that also) thats it.

Its no passport or citizenship just booklets with the most absurd names PIO ( person of Indian origin- when one is not/ foreign spouse) OCI (overseas citizenship of India- its no citizenship )

having seen your comments, may i now request you to advise whether it is really necessary to have my pio changed to oci? Thanks

My wife currently has a PIO card which she is eligible for via descent from her grandfather (who was never an Indian citizen, but was a British citizen born in pre-Independence India).

The local Indian High Commission in her country of citizenship (who issued her PIO card and also endorsed it last month with "lifetime validity") says that PIO cards continue to be valid and that the physical PIO card now grants OCI status effective from 2015. Converting the PIO card to an OCI card is highly recommended, but is not mandatory. However, she is not able to convert her PIO card to an OCI card as she is not eligible to apply for OCI status.

She is not eligible for OCI status for multiple reasons :

1. Her grandfather from whom PIO status is derived was never a citizen of India, nor was eligible to be a citizen of India on 26JAN50 (pre-deceased). The status of birth in what subsequently became India was sufficient to obtain PIO status, but not OCI status.
   
2. She has been married to an Indian citizen for less than 2 years. This was sufficient to obtain PIO status, but not OCI status which requires 2 years of marriage.
   
3. Her country of citizenship does not permit dual citizenship. This was no issue with PIO status, but is a requirement for obtaining OCI status.

We have spoken to multiple Indian consular posts and they give contradictory answers. Some state unequivocally that the PIO card remains valid indefinitely, while others state equally unequivocally that the OCI card is mandatory for travel after 01APR16.

She is not able to apply for a tourist visa as she already has PIO status endorsed on her passport with lifetime validity. The local High Commission says they cannot issue tourist visas unless she applies to relinquish her PIO/OCI status, which is a complex process.

Does anyone know for certain (viz. via a GoI gazette or similar press release put out by the Central Government - not just a consular post interpretation which varies from post to post) :

1. Whether the PIO card is still valid for travel to India after 01APR16?
   
2. Whether the OCI status is automatically conferred on someone who previously held PIO status even if they were not previously eligible to hold OCI status?
   
3. If (2) is correct, how does that reconcile with people who were hitherto PIOs and whose citizenship does not permit them to hold dual citizenship, considering that OCI requires that the citizenship held permits dual citizenship in some form?
   
4. What is the least painful way for her to travel to India after 01APR16?

have you been able to get this from them in writing????

the thread below might have some useful information:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/india...xperience.html

If the PIO is issued as 'lifelong' it remains valid and you can travel with it. My wife has hers by virtue of being married to me and back in 2014 they told it good I got the PIO before its replaced by OCI.

Wow - the PIOs become invalid after 1 April 2016??

I thought they declared it as lifetime now!

Found this in a quick search:

http://www.cgisf.org/page/display/30/231

I am not sure Indian Immigration ever bothered to stamp the "lifelong" endorsement on ours anytime we have traveled in/out...

Good/bad??

My kids and wife got 'lifelong' written in the validity field from day one. I didn't bother to get mine endorsed, should probably get it done asap. Currently it says September 2022.

I guess we should ask at the Immigration counters first to make it easier...

They'll probably say: "Mere pas stamp nahi hai."!

Ah rats, I should have asked yesterday, I was at the airport about 2 hours before departure

Yes, we have it writing from two different Indian consulates - one saying that the PIO card is valid for lifetime and the other saying the exact opposite (viz. that it is no longer valid after 01APR16).

The Gazette notification from 30.9.2014 made all PIO cards valid for life time. The Ordinance from 6.1.2015 said the GoI can at any time do a gazette notification of the day from which all PIO card holders are 'deemed' to be OCIs. Did that happen?

PIO cards not valid for travel to India after March 31