OCI Card Can be Cancelled If Holder is Convicted or Charged For 'Serious' Offences: MHA
The Wire Staff
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New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs has said in a gazette notification that the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card, can be cancelled if the holder is convicted or charged with serious offences. The OCI card allows Indian-origin foreign nationals to visit India without a visa.
According to the notification, an OCI registration will be liable for cancellation if the cardholder is sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than two years, or if they are named in a charge sheet for an offence carrying a punishment of seven years or more, reported The Economic Times.
The provision has been introduced under clause (da) of Section 7D of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by the clause (da) of section 7D of the Citizenship Act, 1955 (57 of 1955), the central government hereby states that an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) registration shall be liable to get cancelled when a person has been sentenced to imprisonment for term of not less than two years or has been charge-sheeted for an offence entailing punishment of imprisonment for seven years or more,” said the notification.
The OCI scheme, which was introduced in August 2005, includes persons of Indian origin who were citizens of India on or after January 26, 1950, or were eligible for citizenship on that date.
The scheme excludes those who are or have been citizens of Pakistan, Bangladesh, or any other country notified by the central government.
Earlier this year, it was reported that cancellation of Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) registrations spiked in 2024 with the Union home ministry cancelling as many as 57 OCI cards in 2024 alone.
The cancellations in 2024 were nearly half the total number of OCI cancellations in the past decade.
Between 2014-2023, the Union government cancelled 122 OCI registrations under section 7D; 57 in 2024 and 15 in 2025 as of May 19 this year.
Nitasha Kaul, a London-based academic who has been critical of the Modi government, said that the latter revoked her overseas citizen of India (OCI) status in a move she has called a “bad faith”, “vindictive” and “cruel” example of “transnational repression”.
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