India’s Overseas Citizen card that allows a foreign citizen of Indian origin to live and work in the Republic of India indefinitely will be printed in Wellington, New Zealand hence forth.
This was confirmed by a press release from the office of the Indian High Commission in Wellington a short while ago.
“As part of Government of India’s continuous endeavour to simplify, improve and expedite provision of consular services, the High Commission of India, Wellington has started the printing of Overseas Citizen of India cards at the High Commission itself with effect from February 28, 2019,” the press release said.
Till now the OCI cards were being printed in India.
The OCI was introduced in response to demands for dual citizenship by the Indian diaspora, particularly in developed countries. It was introduced by The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2005 in August 2005 and was launched during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention held in Hyderabad in 2006.
This significant milestone will result in further reduction in processing time of OCI applications, thereby benefitting all persons of Indian origin in New Zealand, Samoa and Niue.
“Once the printing process is streamlined, our aim is to bring down the processing time of OCI applications to 30 working days from the current 40-50 working days.
“We also take this opportunity to encourage all persons of Indian origin to obtain OCI cards, which not only serves as a lifelong Indian visa but also entitles the holder to benefits such as parity with Non-Resident Indians in financial, economic and educational matters. Details about the benefits of OCI card and application process can be seen at https://www.hciwellington.gov.in/page/oci/.
“All are requested to carefully go through the application procedure and send us applications duly completed in all respects so that they can be processed expeditiously,” the press release said.