India: PIO Card Validity Extended

The government of India has extended the deadline to convert handwritten Person of Indian Origin (PIO) cards to Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards. PIO cardholders can continue to use their cards as valid travel documents (together with a valid foreign passport) until December 31, 2023.  The government announced in 2015 that PIO cardholders must apply for a OCI card in order to continue to preserve their travel rights but has regularly extended the deadline in order to ease the transition. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) reserves the right to announce the invalidation of handwritten PIO cards and require PIO cardholders to obtain the appropriate visa from the Indian consular posts in order to enter India. As such, all PIO cardholders with valid PIO cards from January 9, 2015, should convert their PIO card to an OCI card as instructed by the Ministry of Home Affairs of India.