Q.1188 Travel to India with PIO

Card to end soon . . .

Question: Hi, My son is a US citizen by birth, and we applied for his PIO card back that time, which is going to expire in Nov 2018. In 2015, when we went to India he got a "lifetime validity stamp on his PIO" at Hyderabad airport. I have noticed now in CKGS website that all the PIO's need to be converted to OCI before Sep 30,2018. Do we need to still apply for OCI, even though my son's PIO has a lifetime stamp on it? Any feedback would be highly appreciated. Thanks Answer: Yes! What you read on the CKGS site is correct. The International Civil Aviation Organization has informed the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India that from October 2018, it will accept only machine-readable travel documents. Most passports/travel documents currently are already machine readable. However, PIO Cards were apparently hand written and not machine readable, hence PIO cards will no longer pass as a valid travel document after September 30, 2018. OCI cards on the other hand are machine readable, so OCI card holders will not have a problem. The Government of India discontinued the PIO card scheme from January 9, 2015 when they announced that all valid PIO cards would be deemed to be OCI. However, the process of converting PIO cards to OCI was not automatic and PIO card holders were required to apply for the change. Earlier there was no fee to get OCI in lieu of PIO Card. However, the time frame to convert PIO to OCI free has long expired. Now there is a fee for this service. [see below] Even after PIO Card scheme was discontinued, PIO card holders could use their PIO cards to travel to India. This is now supposed to change from October 1, 2018. As per rules announced, after September 30, 2018, PIO card will be considered as an invalid travel document. The option for PIO holders is to either convert their PIO Card to OCI by using the OCI in Lieu of PIO application process or they will have to get a visa to travel to India after September 30, 2018 as their PIO cards will not be accepted as travel documents. OCI in Lieu of PIO FEE • OCI in Lieu of PIO card US$ 100 + $17 Fee/Service Charge = $120 • OCI in Lieu of PIO card if (Lost / Damaged PIO card) US$ 200 + $17 Fee/Service Charge = $220