In our November 2017 issue of MurthyIndiaBulletin, we reported that all hand-written travel documents will become invalid from October 2018 as per the guidelines of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). This can be found here.

Presently handwritten Person of Indian Origin (PIO) cards cannot be used for travel as they are invalid according to the ICAO guidelines. It is also important to note that  Indian Immigration authorities will accept machine readable PIO Cards as valid document for entry and exit into India along with valid foreign passport only until March 31, 2019. Related update on this subject can be found on the website of Cox & Kings Global Services, the official partner of Embassy of India.

We urge holders of PIO card holders to obtain an appropriate visa or obtain status as Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) to facilitate hassle free travel.

We will continue to bring the latest updates on news relating to OCI/PIO cards.