Dual Citizenship and PIO card?

reshna · Jul 27, 2005

We have lived in the UK for more than 5 years now and we are considering our long-term options. Towards that end, we are trying to find out more information about dual citizenship and PIO cards. Are there anyone here who have already done the research on this?

madhu_cute · Aug 4, 2005

PIO cards

Hi Reshna,

We live in Canada and my daughters were born here. We have got PIO cards for them, reasons being we frequently visit India now and have plans to go back to India after few years with them.

PIO (People of Indian Origin) cards are issued for anyone of Indian origin, born and living abroad. It allows to enter India without visa and enjoy the benefits available to NRI, except for voting. Validity is 15 years.

I applied for my daughters with the Indian embassy here via post and I got it within a week.

vinu · Aug 17, 2005

Hi Reshna,

My daughter was born here in England. We applied for dual citizenship for her with the Indian embassy here and got it. It makes travelling to India easy - not required to take Visa and can stay in India indefinitely.

Unlike PIO cards, that allow you stay in India for a period of six months, though visa is not required in the case of holding a PIO card too.

Sushma · Aug 13, 2006

Helpful sites!

I was browsing through the internet and the following two sites have good information.

Information about Person of Indian Origin (PIO) Cards
Information about Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) commonly called Dual Citizenship

Hope this had been helpful. Thanks.

Sushma