416. Documents to make

NRO/NRE Account in India a

Joint account . . .

Questions: Dear Mr. V. K. Chand your NRi information website is very useful for all the immigrants and OCIs. My questiion is I am a PR holder in Australia having NRE and NRO accounts back in India. My wife became Australian citizen and an OCI recently Now I want to have a joint NRO account with my wife. Bank needs a passport copy of my wife, Is it OK sending a OCI copy for the Bank's records? Thanking you and waiting for the reply. With Regards David Abraham Answer: Banks in India do require Photocopy of the relevant pages of an applicants current passport where the applicants name, address, date of birth, the date and place of issue of the passport, the page with photograph and signature appear. OCI documentation is not a requirement for account opening. I can well understand hesitation in mailing out copies of passport and personal information these days when identity theft and similar problems are common. However banks need verification and the only other way to do this is to visit the bank personally during a visit to India. Depending on the area of your residence, if the bank where you have your NRO/NRE account, has a branch in Australia. You could approach them and they will take care of this. Since a person can have more than one NRO account and they can be at different banks, another option would be to open a joint NRO account with the State Bank of India in Australia. There is a branch of the State bank of India in Sydney. This way you need not mail anything to India. When you open a NRE/NRO account abroad, you simply designate a local branch of the bank in the city of your preference in India and your NRE/NRO accounts are held at that branch. There are other advantages of having a NRO/NRE account at a bank that has a branch in your city.