The Government of India started the Overseas Citizenship of India Card (OCI Card) program with good intentions to help the Indian community in foreign countries. But it has become an official instrument to harass the people. This is not surprising considering the role of the bureaucracy in India, which often works to create problems for people rather than helping them find solutions.

It is easier to get a green card or passport in the US than an OCI Card. The same is true with the process of re-issuing the OCI Card. Note the language: it is not renewing, but reissuing! Why? For re-issue, you have to go through almost the same process as applying for a new OCI Card.

The current problems started with a few airlines in New York, refusing to issue boarding passes to some passengers who had lacked a re-issued OCI Card. They cited regulations for the OCI to justify this. The problem soon spread to Europe and Australia.

People who travel from faraway places were turned away at airports a few hours before the departure of their flights. In many cases, some family members were allowed to fly while others were denied entry. One can imagine the suffering of the people.

The rules say that one should get the OCI card re-issued each time you get a new passport till the age of 20. From 20 to 50 there is no need to re-issue it. When you cross 50, you should get the OCI re-issued once when you get a new passport. Thereafter, there is no need of a reissue.

A few problems show up here. If one got an OCI Card at the age of 19 or 49 respectively, you have to renew it when you get a new passport. In that case, you get a new passport at the age of 29, or 59, which is when you need to get a OCI Card re-issued.

The first question is, how many people can remember this? It would have been easier if the rules said that one should get OCI reissued when one crosses 20 or 50. The current OCI rules only engender confusion. Why cannot the officials use simple, straightforward language?

It is irrational to re-issue a ‘life-long’ visa. Instead, they could have dispensed with the ‘life-long’ and put an expiry date for the card, (not the OCI status) just as in the case of the Green Card in the US.

If it is a life-long visa, what is the need for renewal or re-issue? In America we become citizens and the naturalization certificate remains the same all the time. Only the passport changes every 10 years.

If renewal is necessary for whatever reason, it could easily be implemented without nesting it in a set of bewildering rules.

For example, the immigration officer in India can mention the need for renewal when we reach the immigration counter there. Or he himself can renew it, checking the document against both the old and new passports. It is unlikely for anyone to tamper with their US passport.

This is a result of the official mindset in India. According to it, people are cheats till they prove otherwise – with lots of paper work! In America, officials take the word of the people till it is proven to be false. Lying or giving false testimony has many legal consequences.

In last October, this writer went to India with his wife, who got the OCI card at the age of 48, and his daughter who got it when she was 18. Both got new passports recently. We did not realize the need to re-issue the OCI Cards, till the last minute. Fearful of being turned away, we approached the Air India counter. We were lucky. There were no problems, no questions. Everything went smoothly. The same was true in India, too.

But we heard many others were not as lucky with other airlines. Air India also changed its policy later.

After reports of people being turned away from the check-in counter, the writer decided to get his wife and daughter’s OCI cards reissued.

Oh my God! Navigating the website was an unforgettable experience, thanks to both the technical people who created it, and the officials who cleared it for use. There was no mention of the application fee. The application was a problem every step of the way. After failing four times, I sent an email to Cox and Kings Global Service, which processes the information. They sent the standard reply that all information is available on their site. Where??

Then I called them and they helpfully suggested that I try yet again afresh. There was no way to complete a partially filled application. I started to fill up the application form for the fifth time.

To my luck, I reached the stage where I had to upload the photo and the photo of the signature. The photographs stubbornly refused to upload. After several attempts, I gave up. The next day, I girded my loins and I tried again.

Hurrah. It went through this time! Why now? No idea.

Trisanku is fairly computer literate. But the process must be a nightmare for those who do not know the complexities involves like scanning photos or resizing it.

Anyhow, I filled up the two parts in the government site of https://ociservices.gov.in/. But there was no mention of what I would have to do next. The CKGS site also provided no clues about the next step.

I had assumed CKGS has access to the applications made at the ociservices.gov.in/ site.

So I called CKGS again, and got through to a representative after a few attempts. The person asked to fill up the application on the CKGS site also. That was hardly much easier, but I did it.

While conducting the procedure, I noticed that the language on both sites was convoluted and hard to understand. I wondered why the India government and the CKGS could not have instructions in all major languages in India? It needs to be translated just once.

Even in America, we have access to Indian languages in several government programs.

Later, I printed the application from OCI services page and sent it by Fedex using the forms printed from CKGS. I put in the two passport photos, a money order for $75 and the old OCI Card.

I heard some people mention about attesting an affidavit. I did not do it. What is the need to attest a copy of a US passport? Who will tamper with it, given that it is a major crime in the US?

I dodged that bullet, too. Things were very, very, smooth thereafter. I got text messages about the progress of the application and in a few days I got the re-issued OCI Cards in Fedex. Thank you all!

More than two million people hold OCI Cards now. This means, the government of India had made a billion dollars in application fees! Yet they will not make the process customer-friendly.

It is time for the Indians here, especially those of the second generation, to rethink of the use of OCI cards. If they are eligible to get a visa on arrival why go through the onerous and expensive process of getting an OCI Card?

Of course, the first generation, who has property and close relatives in India, have no option.

The OCI Card program had a troubled start, with cardholders being turned away at airports or deported from India for not carrying a passport with a ‘U visa’ printed on it. After much protest, the rule was revoked and the OCI Card alone was deemed sufficient. 

Then came the recent problem of re-issue. After a hue and cry from the community, especially from Keralites in the US, India’s home ministry allowed people to use their OCI card along with the old passport and new passport till June this year. The ministry also advised people to renew their OCI card in the meantime.

But still people face problems at the airport, especially if they forgot the old passports.

Thomas T Oommen, a longtime activist in New York, has suggested that the India government stop printing the passport number on the OCI Card, to ensure continued validity when a new passport is issued.

The OCI card has also lost much of its powers in recent years. The program was started with a promise that cardholders would be treated at par with Non Resident Indians (who are Indian citizens) in all but three things: They would not be allowed to contest election, vote or hold government office, or buy agricultural land. 

Now the government added new provisions. Cardholders cannot do missionary work, journalism, or mountaineering, without special permission.

A few questions here. How does one define missionary work? Is attending a Christian church service, speaking to a Christian gathering, or being a medical doctor practicing for free at a Christian-owned hospital amount to missionary work?

That last point is not a hypothetical, since last year the Houston consulate revoked the OCI Card of a doctor for practicing at a Christian hospital in India, describing it as missionary work. He challenged it in the Delhi High Court, which struck down the order.

Those who added this provision forgets that Hindu sanyasins, human ‘gods’ and others freely come to the US to do whatever they want.

How does one define journalism again? Is it writing, photography or film making? India is an open society. What is there to hide?

As for the restrictions about mountaineering…. Frankly, Trisanku is baffled by that.