Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) Card
This is issued to any person currently holding a non-Indian passport, who can prove their Indian origin up to three generations before. The same holds for spouses of Indian citizen or persons of Indian origin. Citizens of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and other countries as may be specified by the central government are not eligible for grant of Persons of Indian Origin card.
A PIO card is generally valid for a period of fifteen years from the date of issue. It gives the holder the following benefits:
- exemption from registration at a Foreigners' Regional Registration Office (FRRO) for periods of stay less than 180 days,
- enjoy parity with non-resident Indians in economic, financial and educational fields,
- acquire, hold, transfer, or dispose of immovable properties in India, except for agricultural properties,
- open rupee bank accounts, lend in rupees to Indian residents, and make investments in India etc.,
- being eligible for various housing schemes under the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) or the central or State governments,
- their children can obtain admission in educational institutions in India in the general category quota for non-resident Indians.
Possession of a PIO card will not entitle the holder to:
- being eligible for the exercise of any political rights
- visit restricted or protected areas without permission
- undertake mountaineering, research, and missionary work without permission.
Read more about this topic: Indian Nationality Law
Famous quotes containing the words persons, indian, origin and/or card:
“As to the family, I have never understood how that fits in with the other ideals—or, indeed, why it should be an ideal at all. A group of closely related persons living under one roof; it is a convenience, often a necessity, sometimes a pleasure, sometimes the reverse; but who first exalted it as admirable, an almost religious ideal?”
—Rose Macaulay (1881–1958)
“As the global expansion of Indian and Chinese restaurants suggests, xenophobia is directed against foreign people, not foreign cultural imports.”
—Eric J. Hobsbawm (b. 1917)
“Someone had literally run to earth
In an old cellar hole in a byroad
The origin of all the family there.
Thence they were sprung, so numerous a tribe
That now not all the houses left in town
Made shift to shelter them without the help
Of here and there a tent in grove and orchard.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“In the game of “Whist for two,” usually called “Correspondence,” the lady plays what card she likes: the gentleman simply follows suit. If she leads with “Queen of Diamonds,” however, he may, if he likes, offer the “Ace of Hearts”: and, if she plays “Queen of Hearts,” and he happens to have no Heart left, he usually plays “Knave of Clubs.””
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)