We have been informed of difficulties faced by OCI cardholders who are not being allowed to board flights as passport number on their OCI cards and the passport number on current passport held by them are different. OCI cardholders may please ensure following criteria of validity of their OCI cards before planning their visit to India:

1. OCI card holder who is 20 years of age or younger, OCI card must be renewed each time a new passport is issued.

2. OCI card holder who is 21 to 49 years of age, it is not mandatory to renew OCI card each time a new passport is obtained.

3. OCI card holder who attains the age of 50 years or more, OCI card must be renewed only once after the issuance of a new passport.

4. It is also clarified that if an OCI cardholder renews his/her foreign passport of 10 year validity at anytime between between the age 41 to 49 and which remains valid till he/she attains the age of 51 to 59, the old OCI card would remain valid till he/she obtains a fresh passport.

5. If the OCI card is issued for the first time after the age of 50 years, then there is no need for re-issuance of OCI card in case a new passport is obtained. However, if the applicant so desires at anytime he/she can apply under Miscellaneous Services for re-issue of the OCI card to reflect the updated passport number, change in personal particulars etc.

6. As far as Indian immigration authorities are concerned, the OCI cardholders (excluding OCI cardholders mentioned at point 1 above) will be permitted to entry/exit India on the strength of OCI card even if it contains the old passport number of the card holder.

7. Applicants may also refer to the following links (including FAQs) for any other clarification on the matter:

a) https://boi.gov.in/content/overseas-citizen-india-oci-cardholder

b) https://mha.gov.in/MHA1/OCI.html

New York

November 19, 2019

NY Consulate's advisory on validity of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) Card