PIO cards to continue as valid travel document till March 2020

Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) cards along with valid foreign passport will be considered for exit/entry into India till 31st of March 2020. A statement by the Indian Consulate in Dubai yesterday stated that the latest Government of India advisory has said that Bureau of Immigration (BoI) will now accept PIO cards as valid travel document till 31st of March next year along with valid foreign passport and the Indian Immigration Check Post(s) will continue to consider all PIO cards valid for exit/entry into India till 31st of March next year.

Earlier, all PIO card holders were advised to convert



their cards to Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) cards by 30th of September this year.

 

This extension of time-line is subject to the condition that if in the meantime any deadline is notified by the International Civil Aviation Organization thereby making hand written PIO cards invalid, then PIO cardholders may have to obtain appropriate visa from Indian Missions/Posts. The advisory said, all the valid PIO cardholders as on 9th of January 2015 are requested to apply for conversion of PIO card to OCI card as per guidelines at the earliest.