Q.1096 Aadhaar for temporary

non resident with bank account

in India

Question: Hello Mr. Chand, I am a temporary worker on H1B status in the US . I am a citizen of India. I have not applied for Adhar card. As you know all indian banks now need Adhar card number or enrollment number to keep an account active. My circumstances are such that I will not be able to visit until end of next year. Understanding Adhar needs the biometric details along with the filled up form to generate enrollment number, what can I do to avoid my accounts blocked. Does the US embassy help sending biometric information and Adhar form to Indian govt. What are my options here? Please advise. Many thanks, Thanks Answer: There are no provisions currently to apply for Aadhaar Card from abroad. Non-resident bank accounts held in India do not require Aadhaar and will continue to remain active. Domestic bank account holders must provide their banks with Aadhaar numbers or face the risk of not being allowed to operate their accounts. If you hold non-resident accounts then you need not worry. On the other hand if you hold domestic bank accounts then you may have a problem. While you may consider yourself as a temporary non-resident of India, as far as banks are concerned, anyone with a domestic bank account has until December 31, 2017 to provide their Aadhaar card number failing which, they may deny the account holder the facility to operate their account. These are rules set by the government. The options that you may have if you cannot provide Aadhaar within the time-frame are: 1. Notify your bank for your non-resident status and get accounts designated as NRI accounts. 2. In case you are unable to do this and your accounts are deactivated, you will not be able to operate your account until you provide your bank with your Aadhaar card. Account holders in India who get their accounts deactivated if they fail to provide their Aadhaar numbers to their banks by the December 31, 2017 deadline; should not assume that they will lose their money! Once account holders satisfy the requirement of providing Aadhaar, they should be able to gain access to their banking facilities.