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PERSON
OF INDIAN ORIGIN (PIO) CARD
SCHEME
1.
The person of Indian Origin Card Scheme which was
originally introduced from
30.3.1999 is known as “PIO
Card Scheme, 2002”.
2.
Procedure All Persons of Indian Origin,
who hold passport of any
other country (except of
a citizen of Pakistan,
Bangladesh and other
countries as may be
specified by the
Government of from time to
time) will be eligible
to apply for PIO Card,
provided that:
·
he / she at any time held an Indian passport; or
·
he / she or either of his / her parents or grand
parents or great grant
parents were born in India
and permanently resident in
India as defined in the
Government of India Act,
1935 and other territories
that became part of India
thereafter provided neither
was at any time a citizen of
any of the specified
countries, or if
-
he / she is a spouse of a
citizen of
India or a person of Indian origin
covered under (I) or
(ii) above provided that
they are married for
minimum period of one
year.
-
If any foreigner obtains a PIO
card by virtue of being
a spouse of an Indian
national or of a PIO,
and later on he/she
divorces the Indian/PIO
spouse, the Indian /PIO
spouse must inform the
authorities for
cancellation of PIO
card.
·
An undertaking is to
be submitted at the time of
application stating that
they have been living as
husband/wife at least
for one year. In case of
spouse of Indian citizen,
where the Indian citizen has
expired, it is to be
ensured that the
applicant is not divorcee
and has not remarried
and also there is no
complaint from either side
in this regards.
3. Fees: The
fee for the PIO Card
will be
Sfr.677.- and for applicants aged up to 18 years will be
Sfr.340.-.
(UBS AG,
BERN Account No. 235-939899.01P). All fees should be
paid through bank.
Payment made through the
cash desk of the Post Office
will not be accepted as the
same involves agency
charges.
4. Validity
will
be valid for 15 years from the date of issue.
5. Facility
·
PIO Card holder shall not
require a visa to visit
India.
·
PIO Card holder will be
exempted from the
requirement of registration
if his stay in
India
does not exceed 180 days.
·
In the event of continuous stay in
India of the PIO Card holder exceeding 180 days, he/she shall
have to get himself/herself
registered within 30 days of
the expiry of 180 days with
the concerned Foreigners
Registration Officer at
District Headquarters.
6.
A PIO Card holder
shall enjoy parity with NRIs
in respect of all facilities
available to the latter in
the economic, financial and
educational fields except in
matter relating to the
acquisition of agricultural
/ plantation properties.
These facilities will
include :
·
acquisition, holding,
transfer and disposal of
immovable properties in
India
except of agricultural /
plantation properties;
·
admission of children in
educational institutions in
India under the general
category quota for NRIs –
including medical /
engineering colleges, IITs,
IIMs, etc.
·
various housing schemes of
Life Insurance Corporation
of
India,
State Governments and other
Government agencies.
·
All future benefits that
would be extended to NRIs
would also be available to
the PIO Card holders.
·
However,
they shall not enjoy
political rights in
India.
7. Reserve Bank of
India
has simplified facilities for financial
transaction by NRIs/PIOs from
30th March,
2002. The changes are:
A.
In order to simplify the
procedures and to provide
greater freedom to NRIs/PIOs
for putting through
financial transactions in
India
it has been decided to
permit them to open bank
accounts in
India
which will be at par with
rupee accounts maintained by
residents. They will now be
permitted to open
Non-Resident (Special) Rupee
Accounts with banks in
India
which will have the same
facilities and restrictions
as are applicable to rupee
accounts maintained in
India
by residents in regard to
repatriation of funds held
in these accounts and / or
income / interest earned on
them. The procedure for
opening such accounts will
be the same as in the case
of domestic accounts of
resident individuals. This
scheme will become effective
from April 15, 1999.
B.
RBI has also granted general
permission to:
·
Resident individuals, partnership / proprietorship
concerns to avail of
interest bearing rupee loans
from NRIs/PIOs out of funds
remitted by them from abroad
or out of funds held in
their bank accounts in
India, on non-repatriation
basis, subject to certain
conditions one of them being
that the rate of interest on
such loans should not exceed
Bank Rate plus two
percentage points.
·
NRIs/PIOs to transfer by way
of gift, shares held by them
in Indian companies and to
PIOs to transfer by way of
gift, immovable property
held by them in India to
registered charitable trusts
/ organisations subject to
compliance with other
applicable rules/
regulations including the
provisions of Foreign
Contribution Regulations
Act, 1976 by the charitable
trust / organisation
concerned.
·
NRIs/OCBs for investment on
repatriation basis in Air
Taxi operations subject to,
among other conditions, that
the approval of the Director
General of Civil Aviation
has been obtained.
·
All domestic public/ private
sector mutual funds for
issue of Units to
NRIs/PIOs/OCBs on
both
repatriation as well as non
repatriation basis.
·
NRIs/PIOs/OCBs to place
deposits with Indian firms,
on non-repatriation basis
and with Indian companies
including Non-banking
financial companies on both
repatriation and
non-repatriation basis.
NRIs/PIOs/OCBs for sale of shares
acquired under direct
investment Schemes
-
on stock exchanges in
India.
C.
The Reserve Bank will grant
general permission to
NRIs/PIOs/OCBs to invest in
Government Securities and
treasury bills while
granting permission for
investment in shares and
debentures under the
portfolio scheme.
8. Applicants living abroad shall make
applications in the
prescribed form for issue of
PIO cards to an Indian
mission in the country where
they are ordinarily
resident. Applicants already
in India on long-term visa
(one year or more) shall
make applications to the
concerned Foreigners
Regional Registration
Offices (Delhi, Mumbai,
Kolkata and Chennai) and
those residing in areas
other than the above shall
approach Joint Secretary
(Foreigners), Ministry of
Home Affairs, First Floor,
Lok Nayak Bhawan, Khan
Market, New Delhi-110 003,
India.
9.
For further information
regarding PIO card, the
applicant shall contact the
Consular Officer of this
Embassy at telephone No.
031-350 11 30 or
031-351 15 59. The
prescribed application forms
for issuing of PIO cards are
available with the Embassy
or could be downloaded from
the website.
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