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The Bureau of Immigration (BoI), Government of India will continue to accept Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) cards as valid travel documents till September 30, 2019, along with valid foreign passport, according to a press release issued by the Consulate General of India, Dubai.
This is an extension of the earlier deadline of March 31, 2019, conveyed by Bureau of Immigration.
The extension of the timeline is subject to the condition that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) does not make handwritten PIO cards invalid. It is also reiterated that all PIO cardholders with valid PIO cards as on January 9, 2015, should apply for conversion of PIO card to Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card at the earliest, the statement added.
Press Release on "Extension of time-line to accept PIO Cards as valid travel document till September 30, 2019". pic.twitter.com/uyDgeoLxD7
— India in Dubai (@cgidubai) April 9, 2019
In January this year, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told overseas Indians that his government is making efforts to ease the processes concerning their social security, passport, visa, PIO, and OCI cards, and that work was on to issue chip-based e-passports.
"Our embassies and consulates are being connected to the Passport Seva Project worldwide," he had pointed out.
"This would prepare a centralized system connected to the passport service for all of them." He had indicated that along with passport, the rules related to visa were also being simplified.
Inaugurating this year's Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), he said that the government's endeavor was that overseas Indians should stay "happy and safe wherever they are".
-Sangam Sowmya
