Considering the emotions of persons like Rajiv for their country, for bridging the gap, as well as for respecting their longing to participate in the development of the country of their origin, the Government of India launched a special scheme for such citizens.
The government approved the PIO scheme on 31st March, 1999 for Indians settles abroad so that they could obtain a dual citizenship and could enter India without any visa. This scheme was revised in 2002 and was called PIO Card Scheme and came into force on 15th September 2002. Following are the facts that have to be looked into before a person can apply for a PIO card.
Eligibility
The following persons are eligible for applying for the PIO card:
• An Indian passport holder at any time in his life.
• The persons’ parent/grandparent/great grandparent was born or permanently residing in India and other territories that became part of India thereafter. Neither of them should have been at any time a citizen of any other country as may be specified by the Central Government. These provisions should be in confirmation with the Government of India Act, 1935
• A spouse of a citizen of India or a person of Indian origin.
Procedure for application
The application for the PIO card should be made in an Indian Mission in the country where the person resides. The authority to grant a PIO Card shall be an officer in an Indian Mission notified for the purpose or the Joint Secretary Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India or the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer, New Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta of the Chief Immigration Officer, Chennai.
If the applicant is already resident in India on a long term visa then the application should be made to the following addresses:
New Delhi- Foreigners Regional Registration Officer, Level –II, East Block VIII, R.K. Puram, Sector – I, New Delhi.
Mumbai- Foreigners Regional Registration Officer, Annex II, Commissioner of Police, Craw Ford Market, Mumbai - 400001.
Calcutta- Foreigners Regional Registration Officer, 237, Acharya Jagdish Calcutta – 700020.
Chennai- Chief Immigration Officer, Bureau of Immigration, Shastri Bhavan Annex, No.26, Haddows Road, Chennai- 600006.
If the person is not residing in the following cities above then the address would be:
Joint Secretary (Foreigners). Ministry of Home Affairs, 1st floor, Lok Nayak Bhavan, Khan Market New Delhi-110003.
An application for issue or the renewal of a PIO Card shall be made in the prescribed form and shall be accompanied by documentary evidence to show that the application is a person of Indian origin as defined.
PDF
As all the applications on the website of the Embassy of India are in Portable Document Format (PDF), the interested persons will be able to obtain publications in their original format regardless of what platform, software, or configurations they use to access the Internet.
Fee
As the PIO card scheme was revised in 2002 therefore the fee for new PIO Card for adult is US $ 310.00, for children below the age of 18 years is US $ 155.00. The people who had been granted PIO cards in 1999 when the fee was US $ 1000/- will continue to remain valid and no refund will be admissible. The validity of such cards will be extended up to 10 years.
Validity
According to the revision of the PIO card scheme a PIO card shall be valid for a period of 15 years from the date of issue subject to the validity of the passport of the applicant. It will be valid only when it is accompanied by a valid passport.
Facilities for the PIO card holder
Besides making the journey easier this Scheme sanctions the PIO’s a many economic, educational and literary benefits. They include:
(i) Carrying visa not compulsory.
(ii) If the continuous stay does not exceed 180 days then there is no need to register with the Foreigners Registration Officer however if the stay exceeds 180 days, then the registration is required to be done within a period of 30 days of the expiry of 180 days.
(iii) There is uniformity with NRI’s in respect of services available to the latter in economic, financial, educational fields, etc. These facilities include:-
(a) Holding, acquiring, transferring and disposal of immovable properties in India except agricultural and plantation properties.
(b) Admission of students in educational institutions including colleges and schools in India under the general category quota for NRI’s.
(c) Availing the benefits of various housing schemes of Life Insurance Corporation of India, State Governments and other Government agencies.
(d) All future benefits that extend to NRI’s
(e) However, they are not allowed to enjoy political rights in India.
Cancellation of PIO Card
The Central Government can also allow the cancellation an application for issuing PIO card if the following conditions are noticed:
(a) When the PIO Card has been obtained by adopting fraudulent means, giving false representations or concealing any material fact; or
(b) When the PIO Card holder has represented himself by act or words to be disrespecting the Constitution of India and other laws of India; or
(c) When the PIO Card holder is a citizen or subject of any country at war with, is committing external aggression against India or any other country assisting the country with whom we are at war, or committing such aggression against India; or
(d) When the PIO Card holder has been condemned for indulging in acts of terrorism, smuggling arms, narcotics, ammunitions etc, or has been convicted for committing an offence punishable with imprisonment up to one year or fine up to rupees 10000; or
(e) When it is not favorable in the public interest to grant the PIO card to the person.
It is not necessary to assign any reasons for the cancellation of the PIO card.
Issue of Gratis PIO Card
This type of card is granted to those individuals who have done some exceptional work like developmental work or building of a bridge etc.
Duplicate PIO Card
Duplicate PIO Card can be obtained in case of loss of the earlier card, etc., on a request supplemented with an FIR and other documents. A fee of US $ 100 has to be deposited for availing this facility. The application for the issue has to be filed in the same office from where the original card was obtained
After going through the above steps we can conclude that this would go a long way in restoring and reinforcing the emotional bond amongst PIO’s with the land of their origin. The unique features of the Scheme will further encourage them to play a key role in the social and cultural development of their own country.