When a person of Indian origin has been entitled to the passport of other countries, they hold Person of Indian Origin Card. But the passport should not be from countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

The Person of Indian Origin Card has ceased to work from 9th January 2015 and has been merged with the OCI  card provision. Thus, the holders of The Person of Indian Origin Card are treated as OCI cardholders.

Conditions 

Certain conditions are required to be fulfilled to issue the Person of Indian Origin Card are as follows.

• If the person has never been an Indian passport holder.
• If the person’s parents, grandparents, or great grandparents were residing permanently in India and they never had the citizenship of countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh.
• If the person’s spouse is a citizen of India or PIO cardholder.

Benefits to PIO card holder 

• A person with a PIO card is allowed to enter into India, without producing a visa.
• A person with a PIO card is allowed to stay in India for a period of six months without registration.
• Uniformity is provided to the non-resident Indians in the matter of financial, economic, and educational fields.
• They have the right to acquisition, transfer, and disposal of immovable properties in India.
• Child of the person with a PIO card has the right to education in any government or private educational sectors.

Dual citizenship

Availing dual citizenship of India and another country requires certain strict provisions. Earlier there was no provision of dual citizenship in India. These certain provisions are required to be fulfilled to obtain dual citizenship in India

• When a person from another country is working in India and their child is born in India, then dual citizenship is granted to the child until the period of employment in India.
•  A minor of Indian origin has the right to hold dual citizenship of India as well as another country. The minor is provided with dual citizenship so that the minor child chooses the preference of nationality before six months of attaining the age of eighteen.

Renunciation of Indian citizenship 

Under Section 8 of the Citizenship Act,1995 the provisions for renunciation of citizenship has been laid down

• When both the parents are no more citizen of India, then their minor child is given the right to choose the nationality of his/her preference within the given period of time, after he/she attains the age of eighteen
• When a citizen of India has attained the age of maturity or capacity and decides to renunciate the citizenship of India then he can submit his renunciation by registering under the prescribed authority.
• After submission to the prescribed authority, the person ceases to be a citizen of India.
• But if the person submits the request for renunciation of citizenship during the period of war India is engaged in then the request would be kept pending until directed by the Central Government of India.

Termination of Indian citizenship

According to Section 9 in the Citizenship Act,1995 the following provisions are provided for the termination of Citizenship

• When a citizen of India voluntarily acquires the citizenship of another country, then he ceases to be a citizen of India.
• But a citizen of India who voluntarily acquires the citizenship of some other country during the period of war, then his citizenship won’t be ceased till the Central Government directs.

Case law

In the case of Bhagwati Prasad Dixit v. Rajeev Gandhi[6],  it was seen that the question raised was against the validity of the election. According to the appellant, the respondent was to be disqualified from being a candidate in the election as he has ceased to be a citizen of India. The respondent had challenged the verdict of the High Court.

It was held that the High Court has correctly dismissed the plea because it the arguments that were put forward did not disclose any cause of action. Moreover, the question of acquisition of Foreign citizenship under Section 9 of the Citizenship Act, is to be answered by the Central Government and the High Court does not have the jurisdiction.

Aishwarya Says:

I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.

If you are interested in participating in the same, do let me know.

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If you would also like to contribute to my website, then do share your articles or poems at adv.aishwaryasandeep@gmail.com

We also have a Facebook Group Restarter Moms for Mothers or Women who would like to rejoin their careers post a career break or women who are enterpreneurs.

We are also running a series Inspirational Women from January 2021 to March 31,2021, featuring around 1000 stories about Indian Women, who changed the world. #choosetochallenge