Q.1072 Army Pension/LIC policy

holder and Canadian citizen

Question: Hello, I am a Canadian citizen and an Indian army officer's widow. I am a PAN cardholder. I draw a widow's pension and Have two LIC policy of which my two children (Canadian citizens)are the nominees . I have an account In two banks . If being a foreigner, I don't need the Aadhar card, would I still be able to operate my pension and private bank accounts without any hassles?I don't have any NRO/NRE account although I send a life certificate attested by The Consulate every year to my bank .If I open a NRO account with the banks, would I be able to access my accounts without hindrance? Thanks in advance and appreciate your efforts in helping the NRI community.How I wish the Indian govt would have taken the steps to solve these issues for the NRIs.As if losing Indian currency wasn't enough. Ms J(pls do not publish my name) Answer: Regarding your questions: 1. As a foreigner residing in Canada you are not eligible for Aadhaar Card and hence as you state in your email, you do not need Aadhaar Card. 2. As for your question on banking in India, I notice that you mention that you do not have either an NRO or NRE account in India and this leads me to assume that your pension benefit is deposited in a resident Indian bank account. As residents require an Aadhaar now even to open a bank account, those who already have resident India bank accounts and have not provided their Aadhaar numbers are now being asked to provide their banks with their Aadhaar numbers or risk being denied the privilege to operate their bank accounts until they provide their Aadhaar number. This is where a problem may arise, If you have a resident bank account in India then your bank will ask you to provide Aadhaar number. Foreigners, NRIs, PIOs who reside abroad do not need to provide Aadhaar because their non-resident status makes them ineligible to get Aadhaar. Foreigners, NRIs & PIOs are also not allowed to maintain/operate resident bank accounts in India. Those who had resident accounts prior to becoming non-resident should convert their resident bank accounts to non-resident accounts by notifying their banks of their non- resident status. In case your pension is indeed being deposited in a resident bank account, perhaps you should convert your resident account to NRO account and get your pension deposited in the NRO account. This will legally allow repatriation of pension funds abroad. Your bank should be able to advise you of the procedure. As far as not publishing your name you need not have any concern. The practice of publishing names has been discontinued due to requests from numerous people.