Q764. Will window lose Railway Pension if becoming NRI or taking foreign citizenship?

Hello I am a UK citizen wanting some urgent advice on behalf of a friend. She is currently getting a Widows Pension from the Indian Railways. She want to consider acquiring European Nationality and later take out an NRI or OCI so she can continue to live most of her time in India. Will taking up new nationality and obtaining NRI mean she would have to GIVE up her Indian Railways Widows Pension? Can you please advise who I need to contact to get a definitive answer? Can you please send me a link of any Railways rules where taking new nationality will prohibit continuing to claim a widows pension? Thank you. Kindest regards, Viona Answer: Pension to a widow comes under category 1 of Indian Family Pension and is available for lifetime or until remarriage. [In case of minor children in such a situation, pension benefit is available until age 25 or when they start earning, whichever is earlier] Becoming a non-resident (NRI) or acquiring foreign citizenship does not generally effect a person’s Indian pension entitlement. A window receiving pension from Indian Railways would however lose her pension if she remarries. Indian pensioners when they become non-resident are required to notify their pension paying bank of their NRI status and get their pension credited to a NRO bank account instead of a resident bank account. Additionally, NRI pensioners are required to furnish a life certificate issued by an authorized official of the Indian consulate in their area of residence. Life certificate is required once a year in November. Getting a life certificate from Indian consulate may sound complicated but it is a simple task that thousands of Indian pensioners living across the world get done routinely at Indian consulates. Regarding your

Question: • Can you please advise who I need to contact to get a definitive answer? / Contact the pension paying authority, which would in this case be the Indian Railways. • Can you please send me a link of any Railways rules where taking new nationality will prohibit continuing to claim a widows pension? / Since I am not aware there is such a rule, I am unable to provide a link! But am providing an excerpt from http://www.indianrailways.gov.in