PIO/ OCI card

cheenikum · Feb 22, 2016

Hi ladies
I am making my travel plans to India- I plan to take my 5yo and my 6 month old to India in May..My 5 yo has PIO card, however my 6 mo does not have.
I am aware that PIO cards are no longer issued and that one should apply for OCI.
The OCI process takes about 60 working days and am not sure if I will get it before my travel date.Can any one answer these doubtts for me>

1. Is it mandatory to convert the PIO to OCI ?What is the current status update on this?Can I travel with the PIO for my 5yo?
2. Instead of getting OCI that will take 60 days, can I apply for Indian visa for my 6mo ..and travel to India with that>

any information is appreciated. please help

Thanks

soumya234 · Feb 22, 2016

I have no idea about OCI/PIO since we are yet to apply. As you mentioned, you can apply for Tourist Visa that takes 15 days as mentioned in website. But since we had to do a emergency trip, we applied for e-tourist visa that is all online filling,payment and got the visa e-mailed to us within 18 hrs. The only drawback is that it is valid only for 30 days and it is non-extendable. Use Chrome browser if you face problems with Firefox.

https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/tvoa.html

In the airport, they have a separate counter for e-tourist visa. They take a photo of the baby and that's it which was over within 2-3 min.

Gauri03 · Feb 22, 2016

I traveled to India with my 3 month old on a visa. We didn't have the time to apply for an OCI card. I'm not sure what type it was but it had a validity of 6 months and was extendable. The whole process took less than 2 weeks.

MalStrom · Feb 22, 2016

You can now do visa on arrival, if your trip is 30 days or less. You apply in the US, pay the fees here and get the stamp in India upon arrival. Check the rules online.
If you are going for longer you can certianly get a visa for your child.