OCI card holders not required to hold outdated passports for India journey

People of Indian origin and Indian diaspora having abroad residents of India (OCI) card are actually not required to hold their outdated, expired passports for journey to India, as required earlier, in accordance with a press release.
“The requirement of carrying old and new passports, along with the OCI card, has been done away with,” the Indian embassy mentioned on its web site on Monday, referring to a notification issued on this regard by the Centre, addressing one of many main issues of abroad Indians.
“Henceforth, an OCI cardholder travelling on the strength of an existing OCI card bearing old passport number is not required to carry the old passport. However, carrying the new (current) passport is mandatory,” the embassy mentioned.
According to the embassy, the Indian authorities has additionally determined to grant additional extension of time until December 31, 2021, to get the OCI playing cards re-issued for these beneath the age of 20 years and above 50 years.

As per the present OCI pointers which were in pressure since 2005, an OCI card is required to be re-issued every time a brand new passport is acquired by the cardholder as much as the age of 20 years or after finishing 50 years of age.
The Indian authorities has relaxed the second provisions since final 12 months because of the coronavirus pandemic. The timeline has been prolonged a number of instances to this point. However, that is for the primary time that the rules has been relaxed for carrying outdated passports and the brand new passports together with the OCI playing cards for abroad Indians.
This has precipitated plenty of inconvenience among the many Indian diaspora as usually the outdated passport is discarded after the difficulty of latest ones. But the outdated OCI guidelines desired that the abroad Indians carry the outdated passport as nicely together with the brand new passports and the OCI card.